THE  STORY  OF  THE  NATIONS 


THE  NORMANS 

TOLD   CHIEFLY   IN   RELATION  TO  THEIR  CON- 
QUEST OF  ENGLAND 


BY 
SARAH   ORNE   JEWETT 


NEW  YORK 

G.  P.  PUTNAV.'S  SONS 

LONDON-  T.  FISHER  UNWIN 
»9^5 


1905" 


Copyright,  x886 

BY 

G,  P.  PUTNAM'S  SOWS 


Ube  "ftnfcfterbocfcec  press,  Hew  B?orh 


TO 

MY  DEAR  GRANDFATHER 

Doctor  WILLIAM  PERRY,  of  Exeter 


CONTENTS. 


I. 

PAGE 

The  Men  of  the  Dragon  Ships      .         .         .         1-29 
The  ancient  Northmen,   1-3  — Manner  of  life,  4-6 — Hall- 
life  and  hospitality,  7 — Sagamen,  8 — Sea-kings  and  vikings, 
g— Charlemagne  and  the  vikings,  ii — Viking  voyages  and 

,     settlements,  12-22 — The  Northmen  in  France,  23-27 — Mod- 
em inheritance  from  the  Northmen,  28. 

II. 

Rolf  the  Ganger 30-51 

Harold  Haarfager,  30— Jarl  Rognwald,  32  — Rolf's  outlawry, 
33 — Charles  the  Simple,  35 — The  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  37 
— Hasting,  38  — Siege  of  Bayeux,  40 — Rolf's  character,  41 
— The  founding  of  Normandy,  43 — The  king's  grant,  45 — 
Rolf's  christening,  46 — Law  and  order,  48 — Rolf's  death,  50. 

III. 

William  Longsword 52-65 

French  influences  ;  Charlemagne  ;  Charles  the  Fat,  52-54 — 
Feudalism,  55 — The  Franks,  55 — Norman  loyalty  to  France, 
57 — Longsword's  politics,  60 — The  Bayeux  Northmen,  61 
— Longsword's  love  of  the  cloister,  63 — Longsword's  char- 
acter, 64. 

IV. 

Richard  the  Fearless 66-89 

Longsword's  son,  66 — A  Norman  castle,  67 — News  of 
Longsword's   death,  69 — His    funeral,   70 — Richard   made 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

PACB 

duke,  70— The  guardianship  of  Louis  of  France,  72  — De- 
tention of  Richard  and  escape  from  Laon,  73-75  — Hugh  of 
Paris,  76 — Louis  at  Rouen,  77 — Norman  plots.  So — Harold 
Blaatand,  81 — Normandy  against  France,  82 — Indepen- 
dence of  Normandy,  84 — Normandy  and  England,  85 — Ger- 
berga,  85 — Alliance  with  Hugh  of  Paris  ;  with  Hugh  Capet, 
86-88— Death  of  Richard,  8g. 

V. 

Duke  Richard  the  Good    ....        90-114 

Richard  the  Good's  succession,  90 — French  influences,  91 
— Lack  of  records,  91 — Prosperity  of  the  duchy,  92 — Rich- 
ard's love  of  courtliness  and  splendor,  92  — Wrongs  of  the 
common  people  ;  their  complaint,  93-95  — Raoul  of  Ivry, 
96 — The  Flemish  colony  ;  the  Falaise  fair ;  Richard's 
brother  William,  97,  98 — Robert  of  France,  99— Richard's 
marriage,  loi — yEthelred  the  Unready,  102 — The  Danes  in 
England,  103 — Emma  of  Normandy,  105  ;  Trouble  with 
Burgundy,  107 — The  lands  of  Dreux,  109 — The  Count- 
Bishop  of  Chalons,  no  ;  Norman  chroniclers,  112 — Ermen- 
oldus  ;  the  third  Richard  and  his  murder,  I12-114. 

VL 
Robert    the  Magnificent  .         .         1 15-129 

Power  and  wealth  of  Normandy,  115 — The  English  princes, 
118 — Cnut  of  England  and  Queen  Emma,  119— Robert's 
lavishness  ;  Baldwin  of  Flanders,  120-122 — The  tanner's 
daughter,  122 — Norman  pride  and  Robert's  defiance  of  pub- 
lic opinion,  124— Robert's  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  125 
— His  death  at  Nicoea,  129. 

vn. 
The  Normans  in  Italy  ....  130-148 
Hasting  the  pirate,  130 — Early  Norman  colonies  in  the 
south  of  Europe,  132 — The  Norman  character,  134 — Tan- 
cred  de  Hauteville,  135 — Serlon  de  Hauteville,  136 — Sicily, 
139 — Pope  Leo  the  Tenth,  140 — Robert  Guiscard,  141 — 
Rapid  progress  of  the  Norman-Italian  States  and  their 
prosperity,  142 — Norman  architecture  in  Sicily,  145. 


CONTENTS.  IX 

VIII. 

PAGE 

The  Youth  of  William  the  Conqueror  .  149-170 
Typical  character  of  William,  149 — Loneliness  of  his  child- 
hood, 151 — William  de  Talvas,  152 — The  feudal  system, 
153 — Christianity  and  knighthood,  156 — Ceremonies  at  the 
making  of  a  knight,  157 — The  oaths  of  knighthood,  161 — 
The  Truce  of  God,  166-170. 

IX. 

Across  the  Channel        ....         1 71-194 

Changes  in  England,  171 — ^thelred,  172 — The  Danegelt, 
173 — The  Danes  again,  175 — Swegen,  177 — Cnut,  178 — 
Eadmund  Ironside,  180 — Cnut's  pilgrimage,  181 — Godwine, 
184 — Eadward  the  Confessor,  187 — The  Dover  quarrel,  189 
— Normans  in  England,  192 — Castles,  193. 

X. 

The  Battle  of  Val-es-Dunes  .  .  .  195-214 
Roger  de  Toesny,  196 — William's  boyhood,  198 — Escape 
from  Valognes,  199 — The  Lord  of  Rye,  200 — Guy  of  Bur- 
gundy, 201 — Rebellion,  202 — Val-es-Dunes,  204 — Ralph  of 
Tesson,  206 — Neal  of  St.  Saviour,  '208 — William's  leniency, 
211 — His  mastery,  213 — The  siege  of  Alenyon,  213. 

XL 

The  Abbey  of  Bec     .....         215-231 
Cloistermen,  215 — Soldiery  and  scholarship,  216 — Building 
of   religious   houses,    218 — Cathedrals,   220 — Benedictines, 
222 — Herluin    and   his   abbey,    223 — Lanfranc,    226 — His 
influence  in  Normandy,  229. 

XII. 

Matilda  of  Flanders       .         .         .         .         232-254 
Flanders,    232 — Objections  to   William's  marriage,   234 — 
Marriage  of  William  and  Matilda  at  Eu,  236 — Mauger,  237 
— Rebuilding   of   churches,    239 — William's    early    visit  to 
England,   242 — Godwine's  return,   244 — His   death,  245 — 


X  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Jealousy  of  France,  246 — The  French  invasion  of  Nor- 
mandy, 247 — Battle  of  Mortemer,  248 — The  curfew  bell, 
251 — Battle  of  Vaiaville,  252 — Harold  of  England's  visit, 
254- 

XIII. 

Harold  the  Englishman  .         .         .         255-274 

Causes  and  effects  of  war,  255 — Relations  of  William  and 
Harold,  256 — Harold's  unfitness  as  a  leader  of  the  English, 
257 — His  shipwreck  on  the  coast  of  Ponthieu,  260 — Wil- 
liam's palace  in  Rouen,  261 — News  of  Harold's  imprison- 
ment by  Guy  of  Ponthieu,  262 — Harold's  release,  264 — His 
life  in  Normandy,  265 — His  oath,  267 — Eadward's  last  ill- 
ness, 269 — Harold  named  as  successor,  272. 

XIV. 

News  from  England  ....         275-294 

Harold  made  king,  275 — William  hears  the  news,  276 — ■ 
The  Normans  begin  to  plan  for  war,  278 — William's  em« 
bassy,  280 — The  council  at  Lillebonne,  280 — The  barons 
^  hold  back,  282 — Lanfranc's  influence  at  Rome,  286 — Tos- 
tig,  287 — Harold's  army,  290 — Harold  Hardrada,  291- 
The  battle  of  Stamford  Bridge,  293. 

XV. 

The  Battle  of  Hastings  ....         295-3 ix 

Nolroandy  makes  ready  for  war,  295 — The  army  at  St. 
Valery,  297 — William  crosses  the  Channel,  298 — The  camp 
at  Hastings,  300 — Harold  of  England,  302 — Senlac,  304 — 
The  battle  array,  306 — The  great  fight,  308 — The  Norman 
victory,  310. 

XVI. 

William  the  Conqueror   ....         312-344 

Norman  characteristics,  312 — William's  coronation,  314— 
His  plan  of  government,  316 — Return  to  Normandy,  320 — 
Caen,  322 — The  Bayeux   tapestry,   323 — Matilda  crowned 


CONTENTS.  xi 

PAGE 

queen,  325 — Difficulties  of  government,  327 — The  English 
forests,  330 — Decay  of  learning  in  Eadward's  time,  331 — 
William's  laws  against  slaver}-,  332 — His  son  Robert,  333 — 
The  queen's  death,  335 — Odo's  plot,  335— William's  injury 
at  Mantes,  337 — His  illness  and  death,  339 — Description 
from  Roman  de  Rou,  341. 

XVII. 

Kingdom  and  Dukedom  ....  345~358 
William  Rufus,  345 — Robert  of  Normandy,  346 — William 
Rufus  in  England,  349 — Duke  Robert  goes  on  pilgrimage, 
351 — Murder  of  W^illiam  Rufus,  353 — Henry  Beauclerc 
seizes  the  English  crown,  355 — Death  of  Prince  William, 
358. 

XVIII. 

Conclusion 359~366 

Development  of  Norman  character,  360 — Northern  influ- 
ences, 362 — The  great  inheritance,  365. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


BIRTHPLACE  OF  WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR.       FALAISE. 

Frontispiece 


MAP EUROPE  AT  CLOSE  OF  ELEVENTH  CENTURY 

IRON  SPEAR  AND  CHISEL 

VIKING    SHIP      . 

ViKING      .... 

NORSE    BUCKLE 

NORWEGIAN  FIORD 

FLAILS  AS  MILITARY  WEAPONS 

ABBEY  CHURCH   OF    ST.   OUEN.       (rOUEn) 

QUEEN  EMMA  OR  ^LFGIFU 

NORMAN  COSTUMES 

ROBERT,  DUKE    OF    NORMANDY,  CARRIED 

TER    TO    JERUSALEM 
NORMAN  PLOUGHMAN 
ARMING   A  KNIGHT  . 

CONFERRING  KNIGHTHOOD  ON  THE  FIELD  ^ 
KING  CNUT         ..... 
DOORWAY  OF  CATHEDRAL,   CHARTRES 
CANTERBURY  CATHEDRAL 
CRYPT  OF  MOUNT  ST.  MICHEL 

xiii 


IN  A  LIT 


OF  BATTLE 


I 

5 

13 
17 
21 

31 

77 

87 

105 
117 

127 

153 
157 
167 

179 
217 
221 
241 


XIV 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


NORMAN  ARCHER       .... 

GUY,  COUNT  OF  PONTHIEU 

MOUNT    ST.  MICHEL 

OLD  HOUSES,  DOL      .  .  . 

FUNERAL  OF  EADWARD  THE  CONFESSOk 

STIGAND,  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CANTERBURY 

MAP — NORMANDY   IN    I066 

MAP ENGLAND  .... 

NORMAN  VESSEL  .... 

WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR 

NORMAN    MINSTREL 

SOLDIER  IN  CLOAK    .... 

DEATH  OF  HAROLD 

NORMAN    LADY  .  .  .  « 

BATTLE-AXES  .  .  .  .  o 

ODO.  BISHOP  OF  BAYEUX 


PAGE 

• 

.    253 

.    259 

263 

265 

•    273 

.    277 

.    281 

.    289 

•     • 

.    297 

301 

305 

309 

325 

326 

329 

335 

The  ten  illustrations  in  this  volume  which  are  from  designs  by 
Thomas  Macquoid,  have  been  reproduced  (through  the  courtesy  of 
Messrs.  Chatto  &  Windus)  from  Mrs.  Macquoid's  "Pictures  and 
Legends  from  Normandy  and  Brittany,"  the  American  edition  of 
which  was  published  by  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons. 


DUKES  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

ROLF, 

First  Duke  of  the  Normans, 

r.  911-927. 

I 
WILLIAM 

LONGSWORD, 

r.  927-943. 
RICHARD 

THE  FKARLESS, 

r.  943-996. 


RICHARD 

THE    GOOD, 

r.  996-1026. 


I 

Emma, 

m.  i.'^thelred  II. 

of  England  ; 

m.  2.  Cnut  of  England 

and  Denmark. 


RICHARD  III. 
r.  1026-1028. 


ROBERT 

THE  MAGNIFICENT, 

r.  102S-1035. 

I 

WILLIAM 

THE  CONQUEROR, 

r.  1035-1087. 


ROBERT  II.. 
r.  1087- 1096 
(from  1096  10  1 100 
tlie  Duchy  was 
held  by  his 
brother  William), 
and  1100-1106 
(when  he  was  over- 
thrown at  Tinche- 
brai  by  his 
brother  Henry). 


WILLIAM 

RUFUS, 
r.  1 096- 1 100. 


Adela, 
m.  Stephen, 
Count  of  Blois. 

I 
STEPHEN 

OF  BLOIS, 

s.  1135. 


HENRY  I., 
r.  1106-1135. 

Matilda 
m.  GEOFFRY 

COUNT  OF 
ANJOU 

AND 
MAINE 

(who  won  the 

Duchy  from 

Stephen). 

HENRY  IL, 

invested  with  the 

Duchy,  1 150, 

d.  1189. 

I 

I  I 

RICHARD  JOHN, 

THE  LION-HEART,  r.    II99-I204 

r.  II 89-1199.  (when  Normandy 

Was  conquered 
by  France). 


EUROPE 

AT  T«E  CLOSE  ofthj  IP  CENTURY 


*-         O 


THE 


STORY    OF    THE    NORMANS. 


I. 


THE    MEN   OF   THE    DRAGON   SHIPS. 


"  Far  as  the  breeze  can  bear,  the  billows  foam, 

Survey  our  empire  and  behold  our  home." — Byron. 

The  gulf  stream  flows  so  near  to  the  soutliern 
coast  of  Norway,  and  to  the  Orkneys  and  Western 
Islands,  that  their  climate  is  much  less  severe  than 
might  be  supposed.  Yet  no  one  can  help  wonder- 
ing why  they  were  formerly  so  much  more  populous 
than  now,  and  why  the  people  who  came  westward 
even  so  long  ago  as  the  great  Aryan  migration,  did 
not  persist  in  turning  aside  to  the  more  fertile  coun- 
tries that  lay  farther  southward.  In  spite  of  all  their 
disadvantages,  the  Scandinavian  peninsula,  and  the 
sterile  islands  of  the  northern  seas,  were  inhabited 
by  men  and  women  whose  enterprise  and  intelli- 
gence ranked  them  above  their  neighbors. 

Now,  with  the  modern  ease  of  travel  and  trans- 
portation, these  poorer  countries  can  be  supplied 
from   other  parts  of   the  world.      And   though  the 


THE 

STORY    OF    THE    NORMANS. 


THE    MEN   OF   THE    DRAGON    SHIPS. 

"  Far  as  the  breeze  can  bear,  the  billows  foam, 

Survey  our  empire  and  behold  our  home." — Byron. 

The  gulf  stream  flows  so  near  to  the  southern 
coast  of  Norway,  and  to  the  Orkneys  and  Western 
Islands,  that  their  climate  is  much  less  severe  than 
might  be  supposed.  Yet  no  one  can  help  wonder- 
ing why  they  were  formerly  so  much  more  populous 
than  now,  and  why  the  people  who  came  westward 
even  so  long  ago  as  the  great  Aryan  migration,  did 
not  persist  in  turning  aside  to  the  more  fertile  coun- 
tries that  lay  farther  southward.  In  spite  of  all  their 
disadvantages,  the  Scandinavian  peninsula,  and  the 
sterile  islands  of  the  northern  seas,  were  inhabited 
by  men  and  women  whose  enterprise  and  intelli- 
gence ranked  them  above  their  neighbors. 

Now,  with  the  modern  ease  of  travel  and  trans- 
portation, these  poorer  countries  can  be  supplied 
from    other  parts  of   the  world.      And   though  the 

I 


2  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

summers  of  Norway  are  misty  and  dark  and  short, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  raise  even  a  little  hay  on  the  bits 
of  meadow  among  the  rocky  mountain  slopes,  com- 
merce can  make  up  for  all  deficiencies.  In  early 
times  there  was  no  commerce  except  that  carried 
on  by  the  pirates — if  we  may  dignify  their  under- 
takings by  such  a  respectable  name, — and  it  was 
hardly  possible  to  make  a  living  from  the  soil 
alone.  The  sand  dunes  of  Denmark  and  the  cliffs 
of  Norway  alike  gave  little  encouragement  to  tillers 
of  the  ground,  yet,  in  defiance  of  all  our  ideas  of  suc- 
cessful colonization,  when  the  people  of  these  coun- 
tries left  them,  it  was  at  first  only  to  form  new  set- 
tlements in  such  places  as  Iceland,  or  the  Faroe  or 
Orkney  islands  and  stormiest  Hebrides.  But  it  does 
not  take  us  long  to  discover  that  the  ancient  North- 
men were  not  farmers,  but  hunters  and  fishermen. 
It  had  grown  more  and  more  difficult  to  find  food 
along  the  rivers  and  broad  grassy  wastes  of  inland 
Europe,  and  pushing  westward  they  had  at  last 
reached  the  place  where  they  could  live  beside  wa- 
ters that  swarmed  with  fish  and  among  hills  that 
sheltered  plenty  of  game. 

Besides  this  they  had  been  obliged  not  only  to 
make  the  long  journey  by  slow  degrees,  but  to  fight 
their  way  and  to  dispossess  the  people  who  were  al- 
ready established.  There  is  very  little  known  of 
these  earlier  dwellers  in  the  cast  and  north  of  Eu- 
rope, except  that  they  were  short  of  stature  and 
dark-skinned,  that  they  were  cave  dwellers,  and,  in 
successive  stages  of  development,  used  stone  and 
bronze  and   iron  tools  and  weapons.     Many  relics  of 


THE   MEN  OF  THE   DRAGON   SHIPS.  3 

their  home-life  and  of  their  warfare  have  been  dis- 
covered and  preserved  in  museums,  and  there  are 
evidences  of  the  descent  of  a  small  proportion  of 
modern  Europeans  from  that  remote  ancestry.  The 
Basques  of  the  north  of  Spain  speak  a  different  lan- 
guage and  wear  a  different  look  from  any  of  the  sur- 
rounding people,  and  even  in  Great  Britain  there  are 
some  survivors  of  an  older  race  of  humanity,  which 
the  fairer-haired  Celts  of  Southern  Europe  and  Teu- 
tons of  Northern  Europe  have  never  been  able  in  the 
great  natural  war  of  races  to  wholly  exterminate  and 
supplant.  Many  changes  and  minglings  of  the  in- 
habitants of  these  countries,  long  establishment  of 
certain  tribes,  and  favorable  or  unfavorable  condi- 
tions of  existence  have  made  the  nations  of  Europe 
differ  widely  from  each  other  at  the  present  day,  but 
they  are  believed  to  have  come  from  a  common 
stock,  and  certain  words  of  the  Sanscrit  language 
can  be  found  repeated  not  only  in  Persian  and  In- 
dian speech  to-day,  but  in  English  and  Greek  and 
Latin  and  German,  and  many  dialects  that  have 
been  formed  from  these. 

The  tribes  that  settled  in  the  North  grew  in  time 
to  have  many  peculiarities  of  their  own,  and  as  their 
countries  grew  more  and  more  populous,  they  needed 
more  things  that  could  not  easily  be  had,  and  a  fash- 
ion of  plundering  their  neighbors  began  to  prevail. 
Men  were  still  more  or  less  beasts  of  prey.  Invaders 
must  be  kept  out,  and  at  last  much  of  the  industry 
of  Scandinavia  was  connected  with  the  carrying  on 
of  an  almost  universal  fighting  and  marauding. 
Ships   must    be    built,  and   there  must  be  endless 


4  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

supplies  of  armor  and  weapons.  Stones  were  easily 
collected  for  missiles  or  made  fit  for  arrows  and 
spear-heads,  and  metals  were  worked  with  great 
care.  In  Norway  and  Sweden  were  the  best  places 
to  find  all  these,  and  if  the  Northmen  planned  to 
fight  a  great  battle,  they  had  to  transport  a  huge 
quantity  of  stones,  iron,  and  bronze.  It  is  easy  to 
see  why  one  day's  battle  was  almost  always  decisive 
in  ancient  times,  for  supplies  could  not  be  quickly 
forwarded  from  point  to  point,  and  after  the  arrows 
were  all  shot  and  the  conquered  were  chased  off  the 
field,  they  had  no  further  means  of  offence  except 
a  hand-to-hand  fight  with  those  who  had  won  the 
right  to  pick  up  the  fallen  spears  at  their  leisure. 
So,  too,  an  unexpected  invasion  was  likely  to  prove 
successful ;  it  was  a  work  of  time  to  get  ready  for  a 
battle,  and  when  the  Northmen  swooped  down  upon 
some  shore  town  of  Britain  or  Gaul,  the  unlucky  citi- 
zens were  at  their  mercy.  And  while  the  Northmen 
had  fish  and  game  and  were  mighty  hunters,  and 
their  rocks  and  mines  helped  forward  their  warlike 
enterprises,  so  the  forests  supplied  them  with  ship 
timber,  and  they  gained  renown  as  sailors  wherever 
their  fame  extended. 

There  was  a  great  difference,  however,  between 
the  manner  of  life  in  Norway  and  that  of  England 
or  France.  The  Norwegian  stone,  however  useful 
for  arrow-heads  or  axes,  was  not  fit  for  building 
purposes.  There  is  h^rrdly  any  clay  there,  either, 
to  make  bricks  with,  so  that  wood  has  usually  been 
the  only  material  for  houses.  In  the  Southern  coun- 
tries there  had  always  been    rude   castles  in  which 


IRON   CHISEL   FOUND    IN   AAMOT 
PARISH,  OESTERDALEN. 


IRON    POINT    OF    A    SI'EAU    Wli  11    INLAIU    WORK    OF    SILVER, 
FOUND    AT    NESNE,    IN   NORDLAND. 


6  THE    STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

the  people  could  shelter  themselves,  but  the  North- 
men could  build  no  castles  that  a  torch  could  not 
destroy.  They  trusted  much  more  to  their  ships 
than  to  their  houses,  and  some  of  their  great  cap- 
tains disdained  to  live  on  shore  at  all. 

There  is  something  refreshing  in  the  stories  of  old 
Norse  life ;  of  its  simplicity  and  freedom  and  child- 
ish zest.  An  old  writer  says  that  they  had  "  a  hank- 
ering after  pomp  and  pageantry,"  and  by  means  of 
this  they  came  at  last  to  doing  things  decently  and 
in  order,  and  to  setting  the  fashions  for  the  rest  of 
Europe.  There  was  considerable  dignity  in  the 
manner  of  every-day  life  and  housekeeping.  Their 
houses  were  often  very  large,  even  two  hundred 
feet  long,  with  the  flaring  fires  on  a  pavement 
in  the  middle  of  the  floor,  and  the  beds  built  next 
the  walls  on  three  sides,  sometimes  hidden  by  wide 
tapestries  or  foreign  cloth  that  had  been  brought 
home  in  the  viking  ships.  In  front  of  the  beds  were 
benches  where  each  man  had  his  seat  and  footstool, 
with  his  armor  and  weapons  hung  high  on  the  wall 
above.  The  master  of  the  house  had  a  high  seat  on 
the  north  side  in  the  middle  of  a  long  bench  ;  oppo- 
site was  another  bench  for  guests  and  strangers, 
while  the  women  sat  on  the  third  side.  The  roof 
was  high,  there  were  a  few  windows  in  it,  and  those 
were  covered  by  thin  skins  and  let  in  but  little  light. 
The  smoke  escaped  through  openings  in  the  carved, 
soot-blackened  roof,  and  though  in  later  times  the 
rich  men's  houses  were  more  like  villages,  because 
they  made  groups  of  smaller  buildings  for  store- 
houses, for  guest-rooms,  or  for  workshops  all  around, 


THE  MEN  OF  THE  DRAGON  SHIPS.  7 

still,  the  idea  of  this  primitive  great  hall  or  living-room 
has  not  even  yet  been  lost.  The  later  copies  of  it  in 
England  and  France  that  still  remain  are  most  inter- 
esting; but  what  a  fine  sight  it  must  have  been  at 
night  when  the  great  fires  blazed  and  the  warriors 
sat  on  their  benches  in  solemn  order,  and  the  skalds 
recited  their  long  sagas,  of  the  host's  own  bravery 
or  the  valiant  deeds  of  his  ancestors !  Hospitality 
was  almost  made  chief  among  the  virtues.  There 
was  a  Norwegian  woman  named  Geirrid  who  went 
from  Heligoland  to  Iceland  and  settled  there.  She 
built  her  house  directly  across  the  public  road,  and 
used  to  sit  in  the  doorway  on  a  little  bench  and  in- 
vite all  travellers  to  come  in  and  refresh  themselves 
from  a  table  that  always  stood  ready,  spread  with 
food.  She  M^as  not  the  only  one,  either,  who  gave 
herself  up  to  such  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  duties 
of  a  housekeeper. 

When  a  distinguished  company  of  guests  was 
present,  the  pleasures  of  the  evening  were  made 
more  important.  Listening  to  the  sagas  was  the 
best  entertainment  that  could  be  offered.  "  These 
productions  were  of  very  ancient  origin  and  entirely 
foreign  to  those  countries  where  the  Latin  language- 
prevailed.  They  had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with 
either  chronology  or  general  history  ;  but  were  lim- 
ited to  the  traditions  of  some  heroic  families,  relat- 
ing their  deeds  and  adventures  in  a  style  that  was 
always  simple  and  sometimes  poetic.  These  compo- 
sitions, in  verse  or  prose,  were  the  fruit  of  a  wild 
Northern  genius.  They  were  evolved  without  mod- 
els, and  disappeared  at  last  without  imitations  ;  and 


8  THE    STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

it  is  most  remarkable  that  in  the  island  of  Iceland,  of 
which  the  name  alone  is  sufficient  hint  of  its  frightful 
climate,  and  where  the  very  name  of  poet  has  al- 
most become  a  wonder, — in  this  very  island  the 
skalds  (poets)  have  produced  innumerable  sagas  and 
other  compositions  during  a  space  of  time  which 
covers  the  twelfth,  thirteenth,  and  fourteenth  cen- 
turies. "  ^ 

The  court  poets  or  those  attached  to  great  fam- 
ilies were  most  important  persons,  and  were  treated 
with  great  respect  and  honor.  No  doubt,  they  often 
fell  into  the  dangers  of  either  flattery  or  scandal,  but 
they  were  noted  for  their  simple  truthfulness.  We 
cannot  help  feeling  such  an  atmosphere  in  those 
sagas  that  still  exist,  but  the  world  has  always  been 
very  indulgent  towards  poetry  that  captivates  the 
imagination.  Doubtless,  nobody  expected  that  a 
skald  should  always  limit  himself  to  the  part  of  a  lit- 
eral narrator.  They  were  the  makers  and  keepers  of 
legends  and  literature  in  their  own  peculiar  form  of 
history,  and  as  to  worldly  position,  ranked  much 
higher  than  the  later  minstrels  and  troubadours  or 
trouveres  who  wandered  about  France. 

When  we  remember  the  scarcity  and  value  of 
parchment  even  in  the  Christianized  countries  of  the 
South,  it  is  a  great  wonder  that  so  many  sagas  were 
written  down  and  preserved  ;  while  there  must  have 
been  a  vast  number  of  others  that  existed  only  in 
tradition  and  in  the  memories  of  those  who  learned 
them  in  each  generation. 

If  we  try  to  get  the  stor\'  of  the  Northmen   from 

*  Depping :  "  Mantimes  Voyages  des  Normands." 


THE  MEN  OF  THE   DRAGON  SHIPS.  9 

the  French  or  British  clironicler,  it  is  one  long,  dreary 
complaint  of  their  barbarous  customs  and  their  hea- 
then religion.  In  England  the  monks,  shut  up  in 
their  monasteries,  could  find  nothing  bad  enough  to 
say  about  the  marauders  who  ravaged  the  shores  of 
the  country  and  did  so  much  mischief.  If  we  believe 
them,  we  shall  mistake  the  Norwegians  and  their 
companions  for  wild  beasts  and  heathen  savages. 
We  must  read  what  was  written  in  their  own  lan- 
guage, and  then  we  shall  have  more  respect  for  the 
vikings  and  sea-kings,  always  distinguishing  between 
these  two  ;  for,  while  any  peasant  who  wished  could 
be  a  viking — a  sea-robber — a  sea-king  was  a  king  in- 
deed, and  must  be  connected  with  the  royal  race  of 
the  country.  He  received  the  title  of  king  by  right 
as  soon  as  he  took  command  of  a  ship's  crew,  though 
he  need  not  have  any  land  or  kingdom.  Vikings 
were  merely  pirates  ;  they  might  be  peasants  and 
vikings  by  turn,  and  won  their  name  from  the  inlets, 
the  viks  or  wicks,  where  they  harbored  their  ships. 
A  sea-king  must  be  a  viking,  but  naturally  very  few 
of  the  vikings  were  sea-kings. 

When  we  turn  from  the  monks'  records,  written 
in  Latin,  to  the  accounts  given  of  themselves  by  the 
Northmen,  in  their  own  languages,  we  are  surprised 
enough  to  find  how  these  ferocious  pagans,  these 
merciless  men,  who  burnt  the  Southern  churches 
and  villages,  and  plundered  and  killed  those  of  the 
inhabitants. whom  they  did  not  drag  away  into  slav- 
ery,— how  these  Northmen  really  surpassed  their 
enemies  in  literature,  as  much  as  in  military  achieve- 
ments.    Their  laws  and    government,  their  history 


lO  THE   STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

and  poetry  and  social  customs,  were  better  than  those 
of  the  Anglo-Saxons  and  the  Franks. 
\  If  we  stop  to  think  about  this,  we  see  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  a  few  hundred  men  to  land 
from  their  great  row-boats  and  subdue  wide  tracts  of 
country  unless  they  were  superior  in  mental  power, 
and  gifted  with  astonishing  quickness  and  bravery. 
The  great  leaders  of  armies  are  not  those  who  can 
lift  the  heaviest  weights  or  strike  the  hardest  blow, 
but  those  who  have  the  mind  to  plan  and  to  organ- 
ize and  discipline  and,  above  all,  to  persevere  and  be 
ready  to  take  a  dangerous  risk.  The  countries  to 
the  southward  were  tamed  and  spiritless,  and  bound 
down  by  church  influence  and  superstition  until  they 
had  lost  the  energy  and  even  the  intellectual  power 
of  their  ancestors  five  centuries  back.  The  Roman 
Empire  had  helped  to  change  the  Englishmen  and 
many  of  the  Frenchmen  of  that  time  into  a  popula- 
tion of  slaves  and  laborers,  with  no  property  in  the 
soil,  nothing  to  fight  for  but  their  own  lives. 

The  viking  had  rights  in  his  own  country,  and 
knew  what  it  was  to  enjoy  those  rights  ;  if  Jie  could 
win  more  land,  he  would  know  how  to  govern  it, 
and  he  knew  what  he  was  fighting  for  and  meant  to 
win.  If  we  wonder  why  all  this  energy  was  spent 
on  the  high  seas,  and  in  strange  countries,  there  are 
two  answers :  first,  that  fighting  was  the  natural 
employment  of*the  men,  and  that  no  right  could  be 
held  that  could  not  be  defended  ;  but  beside  this, 
one  form  of  their  energy  was  showing  itself  at  home 
in  rude  attempts  at  literature.  It  is  surprising 
enough  to  find  that  both  the  qualit}'  and  the  quan- 


THE  MEN  OF  THE  DRAGON-  SHIPS.  II 

tity  of  the  old  sagas  far  surpass  all  that  can  be 
found  of  either  Latin  or  English  writing  of  that  time 
in  England.  These  sagas  are  all  in  the  familiar 
tongue,  so  that  everybody  could  understand  them, 
and  be  amused  or  taught  by  them.  They  were 
not  meant  only  for  the  monks  and  the  people  who 
lived  in  cloisters.  The  legends  of  their  ancestors' 
beauty  or  bravery  belonged  to  every  man  alike,  and 
that  made  the  Norwegians  one  nation  of  men,  work- 
ing and  sympathizing  with  each  other — not  a  mere 
herd  of  individuals. 

The  more  that  we  know  of  the  Northmen,  the 
more  we  are  convinced  how  superior  they  were  in 
their  knowledge  of  the  Useful  arts  to  the  people 
whom  they  conquered.  There  is  a  legend  that 
when  Charlemagne,  in  the  ninth  century,  saw  some 
pirate  ships  cruising  in  the  Mediterranean,  along 
the  shores  of  which  they  had  at  last  found  their 
way,  he  covered  his  face  and  burst  into  tears.  He 
was  not  so  much  afraid  of  their  cruelty  and  barbar- 
ism as  of  their  civilization.  Nobody  knew  better 
that  none  of  the  Christian  countries  under  his  rule 
had  ships  or  men  that  could  make  such  a  daring 
voyage.  He  knew  that  they  were  skilful  workers  in 
wood  and  iron,  and  had  learned  to  be  rope-makers 
and  weavers ;  that  they  could  make  casks  for  their 
supply  of  drinking-water,  and  understood  how  to 
prepare  food  for  their  long  cruises.  All  their 
swords  and  spears  and  bow-strings  had  to  be  made 
and  kept  in  good  condition,  and  sheltered  from  the 
sea-spray. 

It  is  interesting  to  remember  that  the  Northmen's 


12  THE    STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

fleets  were  not  like  a  royal  navy,  though  the  king 
could  claim  the  use  of  all  the  war-ships  when  he 
needed  them  for  the  country's  service.  They  were 
fitted  out  by  anybody  who  chose,  private  adven- 
turers and  peasants,  all  along  the  rocky  shores. 
They  were  not  very  grand  affairs  for  the  most  part, 
but  they  were  all  seaworthy,  and  must  have  had  a 
good  deal  of  room  for  stowing  all  the  things  that 
were  to  be  carried,  beside  the  vikings  themselves. 
Sometimes  there  were  transport  vessels  to  take  the 
arms  and  the  food  and  bring  back  the  plunder. 
Perhaps  most  of  the  peasants'  boats  were  only  thirty 
or  forty  feet  long,  but  when  Ave  remember  how 
many  hundreds  used  to  put  to  sea  after  the  small 
crops  were  planted  every  summer,  we  cannot  help 
knowing  that  there  were  a  great  many  men  who 
knew  how  to  build  strong  ships  in  Norway,  and  how 
to  fit  them  out  sufficiently  well,  and  man  them  and 
fight  in  them  afterward.  You  never  hear  of  any 
fleets  being  fitted  out  in  the  French  and  English 
harbors  equalling  these  in  numbers  or  efficiency. 

When  we  picture  the  famous  sea-kings'  ships  to 
ourselves,  we  do  not  wonder  that  the  Northmen 
were  so  proud  of  them,  or  that  the  skalds  were 
never  tired  of  recounting  their  glories.  There  were 
two  kinds  of  vessels  :  the  last-ships,  that  carried  car- 
goes ;  and  the  long-ships,  or  ships-of-war.  Listen  to 
the  splendors  of  the  "  Long  Serpent,"  which  was 
the  largest  ship  ever  built  in  Norway.  A  dragon- 
ship,  to  begin  with,  because  all  the  long  ships  had  a 
dragon  for  a  figure-head,  except  the  smallest  of 
them,    which    were  called   cutters,  and   onK-  carried 


Ifa^^lliiiii^^ 


14  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

ten  or  twenty  rowers  on  a  side.  The  "  Long  Ser- 
pent "  had  thirty-four  rowers*  benches  on  a  side,  and 
she  was  a  hundred  and  eleven  feet  long.  Over  the 
sides  were  hung  the  shining  red  and  white  shields 
of  the  vikings,  the  gilded  dragon's  head  towered 
high  at  the  prow,  and  at  the  stern  a  gilded  tail  went 
curling  off  over  the  head  of  the  steersman.  Then, 
from  the  long  body,  the  heavy  oars  swept  forward 
and  back  through  the  water,  the  double  thirty-four 
of  them,  and  as  it  came  down  the  fiord,  the  "  Long 
Serpent  "  must  have  looked  like  some  enormous  cen- 
tipede creeping  out  of  its  den  on  an  awful  errand, 
and  heading  out  across  the  rough  water  toward  its 
prey. 

The  crew  used  to  sleep  on  the  deck,  and  ship- 
tents  were  necessary  for  shelter.  There  was  no  deep 
hold  or  comfortable  cabin,  for  the  ships  were  built 
so  that  they  could  be  easily  hauled  up  on  a  sloping 
beach.  They  had  sails,  and  these  were  often  made  of 
gay  colors,  or  striped  with  red  and  blue  and  white 
cloths,  and  a  great  many  years  later  than  this  we 
hear  of  a  crusader  waiting  long  for  a  fair  wind  at  the 
Straits  of  the  Dardanelles,  so  that  he  could  set  all 
his  fine  sails,  and  look  splendid  as  he  went  by  the 
foreign  shores. 

To-day  in  Bergen  harbor,  in  Norway,  you  are 
likely  to  see  at  least  one  or  two  Norland  ships  that 
belong  to  the  great  fleet  that  bring  down  furs  and 
dried  fish  every  year  from  Hammerfest  and  Trond- 
hjem  and  the  North  Cape.  They  do  not  carry  the 
red  and  white  shields,  or  rows  of  long  oars,  but  they 
are  built  with  high  prow  and  stern,  and  spread  a  great 


THE  MEN  OF  THE  DRAGON  SHIPS.  I  5 

square  brown  sail.  You  arc  tempted  to  think  that 
a  belated  company  of  vikings  has  just  come  into 
port  after  a  long  cruise.  These  descendants  of  the 
long-ships  and  the  last-ships  look  little  like  peaceful 
merchantmen,  as  they  go  floating  solemnly  along  the 
calm  waters  of  the  Bergen-fiord. 

The  voyages  were  often  disastrous  in  spite  of  much 
clever  seamanship.  They  knew  nothing  of  the  mari- 
ner's compass,  and  found  their  way  chiefly  by  the  aid 
of  the  stars — inconstant  pilots  enough  on  such  foggy, 
stormy  seas.  They  carried  birds  too,  oftenest  ravens, 
and  used  to  let  them  loose  and  follow  them  toward 
the  nearest  land.  The  black  raven  was  the  vikings' 
favorite  symbol  for  their  flags,  and  familiar  enough 
it  became  in  other  harbors  than  their  own.  They 
were  bold,  hardy  fellows,  and  held  fast  to  a  rude 
code  of  honor  and  rank  of  knighthood.  To  join 
the  most  renowned  company  of  vikings  in  Harold 
Haarfager's  time,  it  was  necessary  that  the  champion 
should  lift  a  great  stone  that  lay  before  the  king's 
door,  as  first  proof  that  he  was  worth  initiating. 
We  are  gravely  told  that  this  stone  could  not  be 
moved  by  the  strength  of  twelve  ordinary  men. 

They  were  obliged  to  take  oath  that  they  would  not 
capture  women  and  children,  or  seek  refuge  during 
a  tempest,  or  stop  to  dress  their  wounds  before  a 
battle  was  over.  Sometimes  they  were  possessed  by 
a  strange  madness,  caused  either  by  a  frenzy  of  rivalry 
and  the  wild  excitement  of  their  rude  sports  or  by 
intoxicating  liquors  or  drugs,  when  they  foamed  at 
the  mouth  and  danced  wildly  about,  swallowing  burn- 
ing coals,  uprooting  the  very  rocks  and  trees,  destroy- 


1 6  THE    STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

iiig  their  own  propert}",  and  striking  indiscriminately 
at  friends  and  foes.  This  berserker  rage  seems  to 
have  been  much  applauded,  and  gained  the  possessed 
viking  a  noble  distinction  in  the  eyes  of  his  com. 
panions.  If  a  sea-king  heard  of  a  fair  damsel  any- 
where along  the  neighboring  coast,  he  simply  took 
ship  in  that  direction,  fought  for  her,  and  carried  her 
away  in  triumph  with  as  many  of  her  goods  as  he 
was  lucky  enough  to  seize  beside.  Their  very  gods 
were  gods  of  war  and  destruction,  though  beside 
Thor,  the  thunderer,  they  worshipped  Balder,  the 
fair-faced,  the  god  of  gentle  speech  and  purity,  with 
Freyr,  who  rules  over  sunshine  and  growing  things. 
Their  hell  was  a  place  of  cold  and  darkness,  and 
their  heaven  was  to  be  a  place  where  fighting  went 
on  from  sunrise  until  the  time  came  to  ride  back 
to  Valhalla  and  feast  together  in  the  great  hall. 
Those  who  died  of  old  age  or  sickness,  instead  of 
in  battle,  must  go  to  hell.  Odin,  who  was  chief  of 
all  the  gods,  made  man,  and  gave  him  a  soul  which 
should  never  perish,  and  Frigga,  his  wife,  knew  the 
fate  of  all  men,  but  never  told  her  secrets. 

The  Northmen  spread  themselves  at  length  over 
a  great  extent  of  country.  We  can  only  wonder 
why,  after  their  energy  and  valor  led  them  to  found 
a  thriving  colony  in  Iceland  and  in  Russia,  to  even 
venture  among  the  icebergs  and  perilous  dismal 
coasts  of  Greenland,  and  from  thence  downward  to 
the  pleasanter  shores  of  New  England,  why  they  did 
not  seize  these  possessions  and  keep  the  credit  of 
discovering  and  settling  America.  What  a.'Change 
that  would  have  made  in  the  world's  history  !      His- 


18  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

torians  have  been  much  perplexed  at  the  fact  of 
Leif  Ericscn's  lack  of  interest  in  the  fertile  Yin- 
land,  New  England  now,  which  he  visited  in  986  and 
praised  eloquently  when  he  left  it  to  its  fate.  Vin- 
land  waited  hundreds  of  years  after  that  for  the  hardy 
Icelander's  kindred  to  come  from  old  England  to 
build  their  houses  and  spend  the  rest  of  their  lives 
upon  its  good  corn-land  and  among  the  shadows  of 
its  great  pine-trees.  There  was  room  enough  for  all 
Greenland,  and  to  spare,  but  we  cannot  help  sus- 
pecting that  the  Northmen  were  not  very  good 
farmers,  that  they  loved  fighting  too  well,  and  would 
rather  go  a  thousand  miles  across  a  stormy  sea  to 
plunder  another  man  of  his  crops  than  to  patiently 
raise  their  own  corn  and  wool  and  make  an  honest 
living  at  home.  So,  instead  of  understanding  what 
a  good  fortune  it  would  be  for  their  descendants,  if 
they  seized  and  held  the  great  western  continent 
that  stretched  westward  from  Vinland  until  it  met 
another  sea,  they  kept  on  with  their  eastward 
raids,  and  the  valleys  of  the  Elbe  and  the  Rhine,  of 
the  Seine  and  Loire,  made  a  famous  hunting-ground 
for  the  dragon  ships  to  seek.  The  rich  seaports  and 
trading  towns,  the  strongly  walled  Roman  cities,  the 
venerated  abbeys  and  cathedrals  with  their  store  of 
wealth  and  provisions,  were  all  equally  exposed  to 
the  fury  of  such  attacks,  and  were  soon  stunned  and 
desolated.  What  a  horror  must  have  fallen  upon  a 
defenceless  harbor-side  when  a  fleet  of  the  North- 
men's ships  was  seen  sweeping  in  from  sea  at  da}-- 
break !  What  a  smoke  of  burning  houses  and 
shrieking  of  frightened  people  all   da)'  long  ;  and  as 


I 


THE   MEM  OF  THE   DRAGON   SHIPS.  1 9 

the  twilight  fell  and  the  few. survivors  of  the  assault 
dared  to  creep  out  from  their  hiding-places  to  see 
the  ruins  of  their  homes,  and  the  ships  putting  out 
to  sea  again  loaded  deep  with  their  possessions  ! — we 
can  hardly  picture  it  to  ourselves  in  these  guiet 
days. T  ;    . 

The  people  who  lived  in  France  were  of  another 
sort,  but  they  often  knew  how  to  defend  themselves 
as  well  as  the  Northmen  knew  how  to  attack.  There 
are  few  early  French  records  for  us  to  read,  for  the 
literature  of  that  early  day  was  almost  wholly  de- 
stroyed in  the  religious  houses  and  public  buildings 
of  France.  Here  and  there  a  few  pages  of  a  poem 
or  of  a  biography  or  chronicle  have  been  kept,  but 
from  this  very  fact  we  can  understand  the  miserable 
condition  of  the  country. 

In  the  year  810  the  Danish  Norsemen,  under  their 
king,  Gottfried,  overran  Friesland,  but  the  Emperor 
Charlemagne  was  too  powerful  for  them  and  drove 
them  back.  After  his  death  they  were  ready  to  try 
again,  and  because  his  huge  kingdom  had  been 
divided  under  many  rulers,  who  were  all  fighting 
among  themselves,  the  Danes  were  more  lucky,  and 
after  robbing  Hamburg  several  times  they  ravaged 
the  coasts  and  finally  settled  themselves  as  comforta- 
bly as  possible  at  the  mouth  of  the  Loire  in  France. 
Soon  they  were  not  satisfied  with  going  to  and  fro 
along  the  seaboard,  and  took  their  smaller  craft  and 
voyaged  inland,  swarming  up  the  French  rivers  by 
hundreds,  devastating  the  country  everywhere  they 
went. 

In  845  they  went  up  the  Seine  to  Paris,  and  plun- 


f-yi^ 


20  THE   STORY   OF  THE.  NORMANS. 

dered  Paris  too,  more  than  once  ;  and  forty  years 
later,  forty  thousand  of  thcni,  led  by  a  man  named 
Siegfried,  went  up  from  Rouen  with  seven  hundred 
vessels  and  besieged  the  poor  capital  for  ten  months, 
until  they  were  bought  off  at  the  enormous  price  of 
the  whole  province  of  Burgundy.  See  what  power 
that  was  to  put  into  the  hands  of  the  sea-kings' 
crews  !  But  no  price  was  too  dear,  the  people  of 
Paris  must  have  thought,  to  get  rid  of  such  an  army 
in  the  heart  of  Gaul.  They  could  make  whatever 
terms  they  pleased  by  this  time,  and  there  is  a  tradi- 
tion that  a  few  years  afterward  some  bands  of  Dan- 
ish rovers,  who  perhaps  had  gone  to  take  a  look  at 
Burgundy,  pushed  on  farther  and  settled  themselves 
in  Switzerland. 

From  the  settlements  they  had  made  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Aquitania,  they  had  long  before  this  gone 
on  to  Spain,  because  the  rich  Spanish  cities  were  too 
tempting  to  be  resisted.  They  had  forced  their  way 
all  along  the  shore  of  the  sea,  and  in  at  the  gate  of 
the  Mediterranean  ;  they  wasted  and  made  havoc  as 
they  went,  in  Spain,  Africa,  and  the  Balearic  islands,i 
and  pushed  their  way  up  the  Rhone  to  Valence.  W^ 
can  trace  them  in  Italy,  where  they  burned  the  cities 
of  Pisa  and  Lucca,  and  even  in  Greece,  where  at  last 
the  pirate  ships  were  turned  about,  and  set  their  sails 
for  home.  Think  of  those  clumsy  little  shijjs  out  on 
such  a  journey  with  their  single  masts  and  long  oars! 
Think  of  the  stories  that  must  have  been  told  from 
town  to  town  after  these  strange,  wild  Northern  foes 
had  come  and  gone !  They  were  like  hawks  that 
came  swooping  down   out  of  the  sky,  and  though 


THE  MEN  OF  THE  DRAGON  SHIPS. 


21 


Spain  and  Rome  and  Greece  were  well  enough 
acquainted  with  wars,  they  must  have  felt  when  the 
Northmen  came,  as  we  should  feel  if  some  wild  beast 
from  the  heart  of  the  forest  came  biting  and  tearing 
its  way  through  a  city  street  at  noontime. 


NORSE  BUCKLE  WITH  BYZANTINE  DECORATION. 

The  whole  second  half  of  the  ninth  century  is  taken 
up  with  the  histories  of  these  invasions.  We  must 
follow  for  a  while  the  progress  of  events  in  Gaul,  or 
France  as  Ave  call  it  now.  though   it  was  made  un 


52  THE    STORY  OF  THE  NORMAMS. 

then  of  a  number  of  smaller  kingdoms.  The  result 
of  the  great  siege  of  Paris  was  only  a  settling  of 
affairs  with  the  Northmen  for  the  time  being;  one 
part  of  the  country  was  delivered  from  them  at  the 
expense  of  another.  They  could  be  bought  off  and 
bribed  for  a  time,  but  there  was  never  to  be  any  such 
thing  as  their  going  back  to  their  own  countr)'  and 
letting  France  alone  for  good  and  all.  But  as  they 
gained  at  length  whole  tracts  of  country,  instead  of 
the  little  wealth  of  a  few  men  to  take  away  in  their 
ships  as  at  first,  they  began  to  settle  down  in  their 
new  lands  and  to  become  conquerors  and  colonists 
instead  of  mere  plunderers.  Instead  of  continually 
ravaging  and  attacking  the  kingdoms,  they  slowly 
became  the  owners  and  occupiers  of  the  conquered 
territory  ;  they  pushed  their  way  from  point  to  point. 
At  first,  as  you  have  seen  already,  they  trusted  to 
their  ships,  and  always  left  their  wives  and  children 
at  home  in  the  North  countries,  but  as  time  went  on, 
they  brought  their  families  with  them  and  made  new 
homes,  for  which  they  would  have  to  fight  many  a 
battle  yet.  It  would  be  no  wonder  if  the  women  had 
become  possessed  by  a  love  for  adventure  too,  and 
had  insisted  upon  seeing  the  lands  from  which  the 
rich  booty  was  brought  to  them,  and  that  they  had 
been  saying  for  a  long  time :  "  Show  us  the  places 
where  the  grapes  grow  and  the  fruit-trees  bloom, 
where  men  build  great  houses  and  live  in  them 
splendidly.  We  are  tired  of  seeing  only  the  long 
larchen  beams  of  their  high  roofs,  and  tne  purple  and 
red  and  gold  cloths,  and  the  red  wine  and  yellow 
wheat  that  xow  briiig  awa\-.     WHiv  should  wc  not  sfo 


THE   MEN  OF  THE   DRAGON   SHIPS.  23 

to  live  in  that  country,  instead  of  your  breaking  it  to 
pieces,  and  going  there  so  many  of  you,  every  year, 
only  to  be  slain  as  its  enemies  ?  We  are  tired  of  our 
sterile  Norway  and  our  great  Danish  deserts  of 
sand,  of  our  cold  winds  and  wet  weather,  and  our 
long  winters  that  pass  by  so  slowly  while  the  fleets 
are  gone.  We  would  rather  see  Seville  and  Paris 
themselves,  than  only  their  gold  and  merchandise  and 
the  rafters  of  their  churches  that  you  bring  home  for 
ship  timber."  One  of  the  old  ballads  of  love  and 
valor  lingers  yet  that  the  women  used  to  sing : 
"  Myklagard  and  the  land  of  Spain  lie  wide  away 
oer  the  lee.''  There  was  room  enough  in  those  far 
countries  where  the  ships  went — why  then  do  they 
stay  at  home  in  Friesland  and  Norway  and  Denmark, 
crowded  and  hungry  kingdoms  that  they  were,  of  the 
wandering  sea-kings? 

As  the  years  went  on,  the  Northern  lands  them- 
selves became  more  peaceful,  and  the  voyages  of  the 
pirates  came  to  an  end.  Though  the  Northmen  still 
waged  wars  enough,  they  were  Danes  or  Norwegians 
against  England  and  France,  one  realm  against 
another,  instead  of  every  man  plundering  for  him- 
self. 

The  kingdoms  of  France  had  been  divided  and 
weakened,  and,  while  we  find  a  great  many  fine 
examples  of  resistance,  and  some  great  victories 
over  the  Northmen,  they  were  not  pushed  out  and 
checked  altogether.  Instead,  they  gradually  changed 
into  Frenchmen  themselves,  different  from  other 
Frenchmen  only  in  being  more  spirited,  vigorous, 
and  alert.   They  inspired  every  new  growth  of  the  re- 


24       THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

ligion,  language,  or  manners,  witn  their  own  splen- 
did vitality.  They  were  like  plants  that  have  grown 
in  dry,  thin  soil,  transplanted  to  a  richer  spot  of 
ground,  and  sending  out  fresh  shoots  in  the  doubled 
moisture  and  sunshine.  And  presently  we  shall 
find  the  Northman  becoming  the  Norman  of  his- 
tory. As  the  Northman,  almost  the  first  thing  we 
admire  about  him  is  his  character,  his  glorious  en- 
ergy ;  as  the  Norman,  we  see  that  energy  turned  in- 
to better  channels,  and  bringing  a  new  element  into 
the  progress  of  civilization. 

The  Northmen  had  come  in  great  numbers  to  set- 
tle in  Gaul,  but  they  were  scattered  about,  and  so  it 
was  easier  to  count  themselves  into  the  population, 
instead  of  keeping  themselves  separate.  Some  of 
these  settlements  were  a  good  way  inland,  and  every- 
where they  mixed  their  language  with  the  French 
for  a  time,  but  finally  dropped  it  almost  altogether. 
In  a  very  few  years,  comparativel}'  speaking,  they 
were  not  Danes  or  Norwegians  at  all  ;  they  had  for- 
gotten their  old  customs,  and  even  their  pagan  gods 
of  the  Northern  countries  from  which  their  ancestors 
had  come.  At  last  we  come  to  a  time  when  we  be- 
gin  to  distinguish  some  of  the  chieftains  and  other 
brave  men  from  the  crowd  of  their  companions. 
The  old  chronicles  of  Scandinavia  and  Denmark  and 
Iceland  cannot  be  relied  upon  like  the  histories  of 
Greece  or  Rome.  The  student  who  tries  to  discover 
when  this  man  was  born,  and  that  man  died,  from  a 
saga,  is  apt  to  be  disappointed.  The  more  he 
studies  these  histories  of  the  sea-kings  and  their 
countries,  the  more  distinct  picture  he    gets    of    a 


I'HE   MEN  OF  THE   DRAGON  SHIPS.  2$ 

great  crowd  of  men  taking  their  little  ships  every 
year  and  leaving  the  rocky,  barren  coasts  of  their 
own  country  to  go  southward.  As  we  have  seen, 
France  and  England  and  Flanders  and  Spain  were 
all  richer  and  more  fruitful,  and  they  would  go  ashore, 
now  at  this  harbor,  now  that,  to  steal  all  they  could, 
even  the  very  land  they  trod  upon.  Now  and  then 
we  hear  the  name  of  some  great  man,  a  stronger  and 
more  daring  sailor  and  fighter  than  the  rest.  There 
is  a  dismal  story  of  a  year  of  famine  in  France,  when 
the  north  wind  blew  all  through  the  weeks  of  a  leaf- 
less spring,  the  roots  of  the  vines  were  frozen,  and 
the  fruit  blossoms  chilled  to  the  heart.  The  wild 
creatures  of  the  forest,  crazed  with  hunger,  ventured 
into  the  farms  and  villages,  and  the  monks  fasted 
more  than  they  thought  best,  and  prayed  the  more 
heartily  for  succor  in  their  poverty.  But  down  from 
the  North  came  Ragnar  Lodbrok,  the  great  Danish 
captain,  with  his  stout-built  vessels,  "  ten  times 
twelve  dragons  of  the  sea,"  and  he  and  his  men,  in 
their  shaggy  fur  garments,  went  crashing  through 
the  ice  of  the  French  rivers,  to  make  an  easy  prey 
of  the  hungry  Frenchmen — to  conquer  everywhere 
they  went.  And  for  one  Ragnar  Lodbrok,  read  fifty 
or  a  hundred ;  for,  though  there  are  many  stories 
told  about  him,  just  as  we  think  that  we  can  picture 
him  and  his  black-sailed  ships  in  our  minds,  we  are 
told  that  this  is  only  a  legend,  and  that  there  never 
was  any  Ragnar  Lodbrok  at  all  who  was  taken  by 
his  enemies  and  thrown  into  a  horrible  dungeon 
filled  with  vipers,  to  sing  a  gallant  saga  about  his 
life  and   misdeeds.     But   if  there    were  no  hero  of 


26  THE    STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

this  name,  we  put  together  little  by  little  from  one 
hint  and  another  legend  a  very  good  idea  of  those 
quarrelsome  times,  when  to  be  great  it  was  necessary 
to  be  a  pirate,  and  to  kill  as  many  men  and  steal  as 
much  of  their  possession  as  one  possibly  could 
These  Northmen  set  as  bad  an  example  as  any 
traveller  since  the  world  began.  More  than  ninety 
times  we  can  hear  of  them  in  France  and  Spain  and 
the  north  of  Germany,  and  always  burning  and  ruin- 
ing, not  only  the  walled  cities,  but  all  the  territory 
round  about.  Shipload  after  shipload  left  their 
bones  on  foreign  soil ;  again  and  again  com- 
panies of  them  were  pushed  out  of  France  and  Eng- 
land and  defeated,  but  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion the  quarrels  went  on,  and  we  begin  to  wonder 
why  the  sea-coasts  were  not  altogether  deserted,  until 
we  remember  that  the  spirit  of  those  days  was  war- 
like, and  that,  while  the  people  were  plundered  one 
year,  they  succeeded  in  proving  themselves  masters 
the  next,  and  so  life  was  filled  with  hope  of  military 
g!or\',  and  the  tide  of  conquest  swept  now  north, 
and  now  south. 

From  the  fjords  of  Norway  a  splendid,  hardy  race 
of  young  men  were  pushing  their  boats  to  sea  every 
year.  Remember  that  their  own  country  was  a  very 
hard  one  to  live  in  with  its  long,  dark  winters,  its 
rainy,  short  summers  when  the  crops  would  not 
ripen,  its  rocky,  mountainous  surface,  and  its  natural 
poverty.  Even  now  if  it  were  not  for  the  fishing  the 
Norwegian  peasant  people  would  find  great  trouble 
in  gaining  food  enough.  In  early  days,  when  the 
tilling  of  the  ground  was  less   understood,  >♦•  must 


THE  MEN  OF  THE  DRAGON  SHIPS.  2 J 

have  been  hard  work  tempting  those  yellow-haired, 
eager  young  adventurers  to  stay  at  home,  when  they 
could  live  on  the  sea  in  their  rude,  stanch  little 
ships,  as  well  as  on  land  ;  when  they  were  told  great 
stories  of  the  sunshiny,  fruitful  countries  that  lay  to 
the  south,  where  plenty  of  food  and  bright  clothes 
and  gold  and  silver  might  be  bought  in  the  market 
of  war  for  the  blows  of  their  axes  and  the  strength 
and  courage  of  their  right  arms.  No  wonder  that  it 
seemed  a  waste  of  time  to  stay  at  home  in  Norway! 

And  as  for  the  old  men  who  had  been  to  the 
fights  and  followed  the  sea-kings  and  brought  home 
treasures,  we  are  sure  that  they  were  always  talking 
over  their  valiant  deeds  and  successes,  and  urging 
their  sons  and  grandsons  to  go  to  the  South.  The 
women  wished  their  husbands  and  brothers  to  be  as 
brave  as  the  rest,  while  they  cared  a  great  deal  for 
the  rich  booty  which  was  brought  back  from  such 
expeditions.  What  a  hard  thing  it  must  have  seemed 
to  the  boys  who  were  sick  or  lame  or  deformed,  but 
who  had  all  the  desire  for  glory  that  belonged  to  any 
of  the  vikings,  and  yet  must  stay  at  home  with  the 
women ! 

When  we  think  of  all  this,  of  the  barren  country, 
and  the  crowd  of  people  who  lived  in  it,  of  the 
natural  relish  for  a  life  of  adventure,  and  the  hope  of 
splendid  riches  and  fame,  what  wonder  that  in  all 
these  hundreds  of  years  the  Northmen  followed  their 
barbarous  trade  and  went  a-ravaging,  and  finally  took 
great  pieces  of  the  Southern  countries  for  their  own 
and  held  them  fast. 

As  we  go  on  with  this  story  of  the  Normans,  you 


28  THE   STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

will  watch  these  followers  of  the  sea-kings  keeping 
always  some  trace  of  their  old  habits  and  customs. 
Indeed  you  may  know  them  yet.  The  Northmen 
were  vikings,  always  restless  and  on  the  move,  steal- 
ing and  fighting  their  way  as  best  they  might,  daring, 
adventurous.  The  Norman  of  the  twelfth  century 
was  a  crusader.  A  madness  to  go  crusading  against 
the  Saracen  possessed  him,  not  alone  for  religion's 
sake  or  for  the  holy  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  so  in  all 
the  ages  since  one  excuse  after  another  has  set  the 
same  wild  blood  leaping  and  made  the  Northern 
blue  eyes  shine.  Look  where  you  may,  you  find 
Englishmen  of  the  same  stamp — Sir  Walter  Raleigh 
and  Lord  Nelson,  Stanley  and  Dr.  Livingstone  and 
General  Gordon,  show  the  old  sea-kings'  courage 
and  recklessness.  Snorro  Sturleson's  best  saga 
has  been  followed  by  Drayton's  "  Battle  of  Agin- 
court  "  and  Tennyson's  "  Charge  of  the  Light  Brig- 
ade "  and  "  Ballad  of  Sir  Richard  Grenville."  I 
venture  to  say  that  there  is  not  an  English-speaking 
boy  or  girl  who  can  hear  that  sea-king's  ballad  this 
very  day  in  peaceful  England  or  America  without  a 
great  thrill  of  sympathy. 

"  At  Flores  in  the  Azores  Sir  Richard  Grenville  lay, 
And  a  pinnace,  like  a  fluttered  bird,  came  flying  from  far  away  : 
'  Spanish  ships  of  war  at  sea  !     We  have  sighted  fifty-three.'  " — 

Go  and  read  that;  the  whole  of  the  spirited  story; 
but  there  is  one  thing  I  ask  you  to  remember  first  in 
all  this  long  story  of  the  Normans  :  that  however 
much  it  seems  to  you  a  long  chapter  of  bloody  wars 
and  miseries  and  treacheries  that  get  to  be  almost 


THE   MEN  OF  THE   DRAGON   SHIPS.  29 

tiresome  in  their  folly  and  brutality ;  however  little 
profit  it  may  seem  sometimes  to  read  about  the 
Norman  wars,  yet  everywhere  you  will  catch  a  gleam 
of  the  glorious  courage  and  steadfastness  that  have 
won  not  only  the  petty  principalities  and  dukedoms 
of  those  early  days,  but  the  great  English  and  Ameri- 
can discoveries  and  inventions  and  noble  advance- 
ment of  all  the  centuries  since. 

On  the  island  of  Vigr,  in  the  Folden-fiord,  the 
peasants  still  show  some  rude  hollows  in  the  shore' 
where  the  ships  of  Rolf-Ganger  were  drawn  up  in 
winter,  and  whence  he  launched  them  to  sail  away 
to  the  Hebrides  and  France — the  beginning  of  as 
great  changes  as  one  man's  voyage  ever  wrought. 


II. 


ROLF    THE    GANGER. 

"  Far  had  I  wandered  from  this  northern  shore, 
Far  from  the  bare  heights  and  the  wintry  seas, 
Dreaming  of  these 
No  more."  t^  ^  — A.   £. 


Toward  the  middle,Qi..the  ninth  century  Harold 
Haarfager  did  great  things  in  Norway.  There  had 
always  been  a  great  number  of  petty  kings  or  jarls, 
who  were  sometimes  at  peace  with  each  other,  but 
oftener  at  war,  and  at  last  this  Harold  was  strong 
enough  to  conquer  all  the  rest  and  unite  all  the 
kingdoms  under  his  own  rule.  It  was  by  no  means 
an  easy  piece  of  business,  for  twelve  years  went  by 
before  it  was  finished,  and  not  only  Norway  itself, 
but  the  Orkneys,  and  Shetlands,  and  Hebrides,  and 
Man  were  conquered  too,  and  the  lawless  vikings 
«  were  obliged  to  keep  good  order.  The  story  was 
that  the  king  had  loved  a  fair  maiden  of  the  North, 
called  Gyda,  but  when  he  asked  her  to  ma.rry  him 
she  had  answered  that  she  would  not  marry  a  jarl ; 
let  him  make  himself  a  king  like  Gorm  of  Denmark! 
At  this  proud  answer  Harold  loved  her  more  than 
ever,  and  vowed   that   he  would   never  cut   his   hair 

30 


ROLF   THE   GANGER. 


31 


until  he  had  conquered  all  the  jarls  and  could  claim 
Gyda's  hand. 

The  flourishing  shock  of  his  yellow  hair  became 


A   NORWEGIAN   FIORD. 


renowned  ;  we  can  almost  see  it  ourselves  waving 
prosperously  through  his  long  series  of  battles. 
When  he  was  king  at  last  he  chose  Jarl  Rognwald  of 


32  THE   STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

More  to  cut  the  shining  locks  because  he  was  the 
most  vahant  and  best-beloved  of  all  his  tributaries. 

Jarl  Rognvvald  had  a  family  of  sons  Avho  were 
noted  men  in  their  day.  One  was  called  Turf-Einar, 
because  he  went  to  the  Orkney  islands  and  discov- 
ered great  deposits  of  peat  of  which  he  taught  the 
forestlcss  people  to  make  use,  so  that  they  and 
their  descendants  were  grateful  and  made  him  their 
chief  hero.  Another  son  was  named  Rolf,  and  he 
was  lord  of  three  small  islands  far  up  toward  the 
North.  He  followed  the  respected  profession  of  sea- 
robber,  but  though  against  foreign  countries  it  was 
the  one  profession  for  a  jarl  to  follow,  King  Harold 
was  very  stringent  in  his  laws  that  no  viking  should 
attack  any  of  his  own  neighbors  or  do  any  mischief 
along  the  coasts  of  Norway.  These  laws  Rolf  was 
not  careful  about  keeping. 

There  was  still  another'  brother,  who  resented 
Haarfager's  tyrannies  so  much  that  he  gathered  a 
fine  heroic  company  of  vikings  and  more  peaceable 
citizens  and  went  to  Iceland  and  settled  there.  This 
company  came  in  time  to  be  renowned  as  the  begin- 
ners of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  republics  the 
world  has  ever  known,  with  a  unique  government 
by  its  aristocracy,  and  a  natural  development  of  liter- 
ture  unsurpassed  in  any  day.  There,  where  there  were 
no  foreign  customs  to  influen<:e  or  pervert,  the  Norse 
nature  and  genius  had  their  perfect  flowering. 

Rolf  is  said  to  have  been  so  tall  that  he  used  to 
march  afoot  whenever  he  happened  to  be  ashore, 
rather  than  ride  the  little  Norwegian  horses.  He 
was  nicknamed  Gang-Roll  (or  Rolf),   which   means 


ROLF   THE   GANGER.  33 

Rolf  the  Walker,  or  Ganger.  There  are  two  legends 
which  give  the  reason  why  he  came  away  from  Nor- 
way— one  that  he  killed  his  brother  in  an  unfortunate 
quarrel,  and  fled  away  to  England,  whither  he  was 
directed  by  a  vision  or  dream  ;  that  the  English 
helped  him  to  fit  out  his  ships  and  to  sail  away  again 
toward  France. 

The  other  story,  which  seems  more  likely,  makes 
it  appear  that  the  king  was  very  angry  because  Rolf 
plundered  a  Norwegian  village  when  he  was  coming 
home  short  of  food  from  a  long  cruise  in  the  Baltic 
Sea.  The,  peasants  complained  to  Harold  Haarfager, 
who  happened  to  be  near,  and  he  called  the  great 
Council  of  Justice  and  banished  his  old  favorite  for 
life. 

Whether  these  stories  are  true  or  not,  at  any  rate 
Rolf  came  southward  an  outlaw,  and  presently  we 
hear  of  him  in  the  Hebrides  off  the  coast  of  Scotland^ 
where  a  company  of  Norwegians  had  settled  after 
King  Harold's  conquests.  These  men  were  mostly 
of  high  birth  and  great  ability,  and  welcomed  the 
new-comer  who  had  so  lately  been  their  enemy. 
We  are  not  surprised  when  we  find  that  they  banded 
together  as  pirates  and  fitted  out  a  famous  expedi- 
tion.  Perhaps  they  did  not  find  living  in  the 
Hebrides  very  luxurious,  and  thought  it  necessary  to 
collect  some  merchandise  and  money,  or  some  slaves 
to  serve  them,  so  they  fell  back  upon  their  familiar 
customs. 

Rolf's  vessels  and  theirs  made  a  formidable  fleet, 
but  although  they  agreed  that  there  should  not  be 
any  one  chosen  as  captain,  or  admiral,  as  we  should 


34  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

say  nowadays,  we  do  not  hear  much  of  any  of  the 
confederates  except  Rolf  the  Ganger,  so  we  ma)'  be 
sure  he  was  most  powerful  and  took  command 
whether  anybody  was  willing  or  not. 

They  came  round  the  coast  of  Scotland,  and  made 
first  for  Holland,  but  as  all  that  part  of  the  country 
had  too  often  been  devastated  and  had  become  very 
poor,  the  ships  were  soon  put  to  sea  again.  And 
next  we  find  them  going  up  the  River  Seine  in 
France,  which  was  a  broader  river  then  than  it  is 
now,  and  the  highway  toward  Paris  and  other  cities, 
which  always  seemed  to  offer  great  temptations  to 
the  vikings.  Charles  the  Simple  was  king  of  France 
by  right,  but  the  only  likeness  to  his  ancestor  Charle- 
magne was  in  his  name,  and  to  that  his  subjects  had 
added  the  Simple,  or  the  Fool,  by  which  we  can  tell 
that  he  was  not  a  very  independent  or  magnificent 
sort  of  monarch.  The  limits  of  the  kingdom  of 
France,  at  that  time,  had  just  been  placed  between 
the  Loire  and  the  Meuse,  after  many  years  of  fight- 
ing between  the  territories,  and  Charles  was  still  con- 
testing his  right  to  the  crown.  The  wide  empire  of 
Charlemagne  had  not  been  divided  at  once  into  dis- 
tinct smaller  kingdoms,  but  ^he  heirs  had  each  taken 
what  they  could  hold  and  fought  for  much  else  beside. 
Each  pretended  to  be  the  lawful  king  and  was  ready 
to  hold  all  he  could  win.  So  there  was  naturally 
little  good-feeling  between  them,  and  not  one  could 
feel  sure  that  his  neighbor  would  even  help  him 
to  fight  against  a  common  enem}'.  It  was  "  Every  one 
for  himself,  and  devil  take  the  hindmost !  "  to  quote 
the  old  proverb,  wliich  seldom  has  so  literal   an  ap- 


ROLF   THE    GANGER.  35 

plication.  King  Charles  the  Simple,  besides  defend- 
ing himself  from  his  outside  enemies,  was  also  much 
troubled  by  a  pretender  to  the  crown,  and  was  no 
doubt  at  his  wit's  end  to  know  how  to  manage  the 
province  of  Neustria,  lately  so  vexed  by  the  foreign 
element  within  its  borders.  It  might  be  easy  work 
for  the  troop  of  Northmen  that  had  followed  Rolf. 
Besides  the  fact  that  they  need  not  fear  any  alliance 
against  them,  and  had  only  Charles  the  Simple  for 
their  enemy,  one  of  his  own  enemies  was  quite  likely 
to  form  a  league  with  them  against  him. 

The  fleet  from  the  Hebrides  had  come  to  anchor 
on  its  way  up  the  Seine  at  a  town  called  Jumieges, 
five  leagues  from  Rouen.  There  was  no  army  near 
by  to  offer  any  hindrance,  and  the  work  of  pillaging 
the  country  was  fairly  begun  without  hindrance 
when  the  news  of  the  incursion  was  told  in  Rouen. 
There  the  people  were  in  despair,  for  it  was  useless 
to  think  of  defending  their  broken  walls  ;  the  city 
was  already  half  ruined  from  such  invasions.  At  any 
hour  they  might  find  themselves  at  the  mercy  of 
these  new  pirates.  But  in  such  dreadful  dismay  the 
archbishop,  a  man  of  great  courage  and  good  sense, 
whom  we  must  honor  heartily,  took  upon  himself 
the  perilous  duty  of  going  to  the  camp  and  trying  to 
save  the  city  by  making  a  treaty.  He  had  heard 
stories  enough,  we  may  be  sure,  of  the  cruel  tortures 
of  Christian  priests  by  these  Northern  pagans,  who 
still  believed  in  the  gods  Thor  and  Odin  and  in  Val- 
halla, and  that  the  most  fortunate  thing,  for  a  man's 
life  in  the  next  world,  was  that  he  should  die  in 
battle  in  this  world. 


T,6  THE   STORY   OF  THE    NORMANS. 

There  was  already  a  great  difference  in  the  hopes 
and  plans  of  the  Northmen  :  they  listened  to  the 
archbishop  instead  of  killing  him  at  once,  and  Rolf 
and  his  companions  treated  him  and  his  interpreter 
with  some  sort  of  courtesy.  Perhaps  the  bravery  of 
the  good  man  won  their  hearts  by  its  kinship  to  their 
daring  ;  perhaps  they  were  already  planning  to  seize 
upon  a  part  of  France  and  to  forsake  the  Hebrides 
altogether,  and  Rolf  had  a  secret  design  of  founding 
a  kingdom  for  himself  that  should  stand  steadfast 
against  enemies.  When  the  good  priest  went  back 
to  Rouen,  I  think  the  people  must  have  been  sur- 
prised that  he  had  kept  his  head  upon  his  shoulders, 
and  still  more  filled  with  wonder  because  he  was 
able  to  tell  them  that  he  had  made  a  truce,  that  he 
had  guaranteed  the  assailants  admission  to  the  city, 
but  that  they  had  promised  not  to  do  any  harm 
whatever.  Who  knows  if  there  were  not  many 
voices  that  cried  out  that  it  wasonly  delivering  them 
to  the  cruel  foe,  with  their  wives  and  children 
and  all  that  they  had  in  the  world.  When  the 
ships  came  up  the  river  and  were  anchored  before 
one  of  the  city  gates  near  the  Church  of  St.  Morin, 
and  the  tall  chieftain  and  his  comrades  began  to 
come  ashore,  what  beating  hearts,  what  careful  peep- 
ing out  of  windows  there  must  have  been  in  Rouen 
that  day ! 

But  the  chiefs  had  given  their  word  of  honor,  and 
they  kept  it  well  ;  they  walked  all  about  the  city,  and 
examined  all  the  ramparts,  the  wharves,  and  the  sup- 
ply of  water,  and  gave  every  thing  an  unexpectedly 
kind  approval.    More  than  this,  they  said  that  Rouen 


ROLF   THE   GANGER.  37 

should  be  their  head-quarters  and  their  citadel. 
This  was  not  very  welcome  news,  but  a  thousand 
times  better  than  being  sacked  and  ravaged  and 
burnt,  and  when  the  ships  had  gone  by  up  the  river, 
I  dare  say  that  more  than  one  voice  spoke  up  for 
Rolf  the  Ganger,  and  gratefully  said  that  he  might 
not  prove  the  worst  of  masters  after  all.  Some  of 
the  citizens  even  joined  the  ranks  of  the  sea-king's 
followers  when  they  went  on  in  quest  of  new  adven- 
ture up  the  Seine. 

Just  where  the  river  Eure  joins  the  Seine,  on  the 
point  between  the  two  streams,  the  Norwegians 
built  a  great  camp,  and  fortified  it,  and  there  they 
waited  for  the  French  army.  For  once  King  Charles 
u'as  master  of  his  whole  kingdom,  and  he  had  made 
up  his  mind  to  resist  this  determined  invasion.  Pi- 
rates were  bad  enough,  but  pirates  who  were  evi- 
dently bent  upon  greater  mischief  than  usual  could 
not  be  sent  away  too  soon.  It  was  not  long  before 
the  French  troops,  under  the  command  of  a  general 
called  Regnauld,  who  bore  the  title  of  Duke  of 
France,  made  their  appearance  opposite  the  encamp- 
ment, on  the  right  bank  of  the  Eure. 

The  French  counts  had  rallied  bravely  ;  they  made 
a  religious  duty  of  it,  for  were  not  these  Norwegians 
pagans?  and  pagans  deserved  to  be  killed,  even  if 
they  had  not  come  to  steal  from  a  Christian  country. 

There  was  one  count  who  had  been  a  pagan  him- 
self years  before,  but  he  had  become  converted,  and 
was  as  famous  a  Christian  as  he  had  been  sea-king. 
He  had  declared  that  he  was  tired  of  leading  a  life 
of  wild  adventure,  and  had  made  peace  with  France 


38  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

twenty  years  before  this  time  ;  and  the  kingdom  had 
given  him  the  county  of  Chartrcs — so  he  must  have 
been  a  powerful  enemy.  Naturally  he  was  thought 
to  be  the  best  man  to  confer  with  his  countrymen. 
There  was  a  council  of  war  in  the  French  camp,  and 
this  Hasting  (of  whom  you  will  hear  again  by  and 
b}')  advised  that  they  should  confer  with  Rolf  before 
they  risked  a  battle  with  him.  Perhaps  the  old  sea- 
king  judged  his  tall  successor  by  his  own  experience, 
and  thought  he  might  like  to  be  presented  with  a 
county  too,  as  the  price  of  being  quiet  and  letting 
the  frightened  Seine  cities  alone.  Some  of  the  other 
lords  of  the  army  were  very  suspicious  and  angry 
about  this  proposal,  but  Hasting  had  his  way,  and 
went  out  with  two  attendants  who  could  speak 
Danish. 

The  three  envoys  made  their  short  journey  to  the 
river-side-'as-qtHckly  as  possible,  and  presently  they 
stood  on  the  bank  of  the  Eure.  Across  the  river 
were  the  new  fortifications,  and  some  of  the  sea- 
kings'  men  were  busy  with  their  armor  on  the  other 
shore. 

"  Gallant  soldiers  !"  cries  the  Count  of  Chartres; 
"  what  is  your  chieftain's  name  ?  " 

"  We  have  no  lord  over  us,"  they  shouted  back 
again  ;   "  we  are  all  equal." 

"  For  what  end  have  you  come  to  France?" 

"  To  drive  out  the  people  who  are  here,  or  make 
them  our  subjects,  and  to  make  ourselves  a  new 
country,"  says  the  Northman.  "Who  are  you? — ■ 
How  is  it  that  you  speak  our  own  tongue  ?  " 

"You  know  the  story  of   Hasting,"  answers  the 


ROLF   THE  GANGER.  39 

count,  not  without  pride — "  Hasting,  the  great  pi- 
rate, who  scoured  the  seas  with  his  crowd  of  ships, 
and  did  so  much  evil  in  this  kingdom  ?" 

"Aye,  we  have  heard  that,  but  Hasting  has  made 
a  bad  end  to  so  good  a  beginning";  to  which  the 
count  had  nothing  to  say  ;  he  was  Lord  of  Chartres 
now,  and  hked  that  very  well. 

"  Will  you  submit  to  King  Charles  ?  "  he  shouts 
again,  and  more  men  are  gathering  on  the  bank  to 
listen.  "  Will  you  give  your  faith  and  service,  and 
take  from  him  gifts  and  honor?  " 

"No,  no !"  they  answer ;  "  we  will  not  submit  to 
King  Charles — go  back,  and  tell  him  so,  you  messen- 
ger, and  say  that  we  claim  the  rule  and  dominion  of 
what  we  win  by  our  own  strength  and  our  swords." 

But  the  Frenchmen  called  Hasting  a  traitor  when 
he  brought  this  answer  back  to  camp,  and  told  his 
associates  not  to  try  to  force  the  pagan  entrench- 
ments. A  traitor,  indeed  !  That  was  too  much  for 
the  old  viking's  patience.  For  all  that,  the  accusation 
may  have  held  a  grain  of  truth.  Nobody  knows  the 
whole  of  his  story,  but  he  may  have  felt  the  old  fire 
and  spirit  of  his  youth  when  he  saw  the  great  en- 
campment and  heard  the  familiar  tones  of  his  coun- 
trymen. It  may  be  wrong  to  suspect  that  he  went 
to  join  them  ;  but,  at  all  events,  Count  Chartres  left 
the  French  camp  indignantly,  and  nobody  knows 
where  he  went,  either  then  or  afterward,  for  he  for- 
sook his  adopted  country  and  left  it  to  its  fate. 
They  found  out  that  he  had  given  good  advice  to 
those  proud  comrades  of  his,  for  when  they  attacked 
the    enemy   between    the    rivers   they  were   cut   to 


40  THE    STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

pieces  ;  even  the  duke  of  France,  their  bold  leader, 
was  killed  by  a  poor  fisherman  of  Rouen  who  had 
followed  the  Northern  army. 

Now  there  was  nothing  to  hinder  Rolf,  who  begins 
to  be  formally  acknowledged  as  the  leader,  from  go- 
ing up  the  Seine  as  fast  or  as  slow  as  he  pleased,  and 
after  a  while  the  army  laid  siege  to  Paris,  but  this 
was  unsuccessful.  One  of  the  chiefs  was  taken 
prisoner,  and  to  release  him  they  promised  a  year's 
truce  to  King  Charles,  and  after  a  while  we  find  them 
back  at  Rouen  again.  They  had  been  ravaging  the 
country  to  the  north  of  Paris,  very  likely  in  King 
Charles's  company,  for  there  had  been  a  new  division 
of  the  kingdom,  and  the  northern  provinces  no  longer 
called  him  their  sovereign.  Poor  Charles  the  Sim- 
ple !  he  seems  to  have  had  a  very  hard  time  of  it 
with  his  unruly  subjects,  and  his  fellow-knights  and 
princes  too,  who  took  advantage  of  him  whenever- 
they  could  find  a  chance. 

By  this  time  we  know  enough  of  Rolf  and  his 
friends  not  to  expect  them  to  remain  quiet  very  long 
at  Rouen.  Away  they  went  to  Bayeux,  a  rich  city, 
and  assaulted  that  and  killed  Berenger,  the  Count  of 
Bayeux,  and  gained  a  great  heap  of  booty.  We 
learn  a  great  deal  of  the  manners  and  fashions  of 
that  early  day  when  we  find  out  that  Berenger  had 
a  beautiful  daughter,  and  when  the  treasure  was 
divided  she  was  considered  as  part  of  it  and  fell  to 
Rolf's  lot.  He  immediately  married  her  with  ap- 
parent satisfaction  and  a  full  performance  of  Scandi- 
navian rites  and  ceremonies. 

After  this  the  Northmen  went  on  to  Evreux  and 


ROLF    THE    GANGER.  4 1 

to  some  other  cities,  and  their  dominion  was  added 
to,  day  by  day.  They  began  to  feel  a  certain  sort  of 
respect  and  care  for  the  poor  provinces  now  that 
they  belonged  to  themselves.  And  they  ceased  to 
be  cruel  to  the  unresisting  people,  and  only  taxed 
them  with  a  certain  yearly  tribute.  Besides  this, 
they  chose  Rolf  for  their  king,  but  this  northern 
title  was  changed  before  long  for  the  French  one  of 
duke.  Rolf  must  have  been  very  popular  with  his 
followers.  We  cannot  help  a  certain  liking  for  him 
ourselves  or  being  pleased  when  we  know  that  his 
new  subjects  liked  him  heartily.  They  had  cursed 
him  very  often,  to  be  sure,  and  feared  his  power 
when  he  was  only  a  pirate,  but  they  were  glad 
enough  when  they  gained  so  fearless  and  strong  a 
man  for  their  protector.  Whatever  he  did  seemed 
to  be  with  a  far-sightedness  and  better  object  than 
they  had  been  used  to  in  their  rulers.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  gifts  and  uncommon  power,  and  he  laid  his 
plans  deeper  and  was  not  without  a  marked  knowl- 
edge of  the  rude  politics  of  that  time — a  good  gov- 
ernor, which  was  beginning  to  be  needed  more  in 
France  than  a  good  fighter  even. 

Fighting  was  still  the  way  of  gaining  one's  ends, 
and  so  there  was  still  war,  but  it  was  better  sustained 
and  more  orderly.  These  Northerners,  masters  now 
of  a  good  piece  of  territory,  linked  themselves  with 
some  of  the  smaller  scattered  settlements  of  Danes 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Loire,  and  went  inland  on 
a  great  expedition.  They  could  not  conquer  Paris 
this  time  either,  nor  Dijon  nor  Chartres.  The  great 
walls  of  these  cities  and  several  others  were  not  to 


42  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

be  beaten  down,  but  there  is  a  long  list  of  weaker 
towns  that  fell  into  their  hands,  and  at  last  the 
French  people  could  bear  the  sieges  no  longer,  and 
not  only  the  peasants  but  the  nobles  and  priests 
clamored  for  deliverance.  King  Charles  may  have 
been  justly  called  the  Simple,  but  he  showed  very 
good  sense  now.  "  We  shall  starve  to  death,"  the 
people  were  saying.  "  Nobody  dares  to  work  in  the 
field  or  the  vineyard  ;  there  is  not  an  acre  of  corn 
from  Blois  to  Senlis.  Churches  are  burnt  and  peo- 
ple are  murdered  ;  the  Northmen  do  as  they  please. 
See,  it  is  all  the  fault  of  a  weak  king  !  " 

King  Charles  roused  himself  to  do  a  sensible  thing ; 
he  may  have  planned  it  as  a  stroke  of  policy,  and 
meant  to  avail  himself  of  the  Northmen's  strength 
to  keep  himself  on  his  throne.  He  consulted  his 
barons  and  bishops,  and  they  agreed  with  him  that 
he  must  form  a  league  with  their  enemies,  and  so 
make  sure  of  peace.  As  we  read  the  story  of  those 
days,  we  are  hardly  sure  that  Rolf  was  the  subject 
after  this  rather  than  the  king.  He  did  homage 
to  King  Charles,  and  he  received  the  sovereignty 
over  most  of  what  was  to  be  called  the  dukedom  of 
Normandy.  The  league  was  little  more  than  an  obli- 
gation of  mutual  defence,  and  KingCharles  was  lucky 
to  call  Rolf  his  friend  and  ally.  The  vigorous  Nor- 
wegian was  likely  to  keep  his  word  better  than  the 
French  dukes  and  barons,  who  br6ke  such  promises 
with  perfect  ease.  Rolf's  duty  and  his  interest  led 
him  nearly  in  the  same  path,  but  he  was  evidently 
disposed  to  do  what  was  right  according  to  his  way 
of  seeing  right  and  wrong. 


ROLF   THE   GANGER.  43 

All  this  time  he  had  been  living  with  his  wife 
Popa,  the  daughter  of  Count  Berenger,  who  was  slain 
at  Bayeux.  They  had  two  children — -William,  and  a 
daughter,  Adela.  According  to  the  views  of  King 
Charles  and  the  Christian  church  of  that  time,  the 
marriage  performed  with  Scandinavian  rites  was  no 
marriage  at  all,  though  Rolf  loved  his  wife  devot- 
edly and  was  training  his  son  with  great  care,  so  that 
he  might  by  and  by  take  his  place,  and  be  no  inferior, 
either,  of  the  young  French  princes  who  were  his 
contemporaries.  As  one  historian  says,  the  best  had 
the  best  then,  and  this  young  William  was  being 
made  a  scholar  as  fast  as  possible. 

For  all  this,  when  the  king's  messenger  came  to 
Rolf  and  made  him  an  offer  of  Gisla,  the  king's 
daughter,  for  a  wife,  with  the  seigneury  of  all  the 
lands  between  the  river  Epte  and  the  border  of  Brit- 
tany, if  he  would  only  become  a  Christian  and  live 
in  peace  with  the  kingdom,  Rolf  listened  with  pleas- 
ure. He  did  not  repeat  now  the  words  that  Hasting 
heard  on  the  bank  of  the  Eure,  "  We  will  obey  no 
one !  "  while  with  regard  to  the  marriage  he  evi- 
dently felt  free  to  contract  a  new  one. 

It  was  all  a  great  step  upward,  and  Rolf's  clear 
eyes  saw  that.  If  he  were  not  a  Christian  he  could 
not  be  the  equal  of  the  lords  of  France.  He  was 
not  a  mere  adventurer  any  longer,  the  leader  of  a 
band  of  pirates;  other  ambitions  had  come  to  him 
since  he  had  been  governor  of  his  territory.  The 
pagan  fanaticism  and  superstition  of  his  companions 
were  more  than  half  extinguished  already  ;  the  old 
myths  of  the  Northern   god:,  had  not  flourished  in 


44  THE   STORY  OF  THE   .\  OR  MANS. 

this  new  soil.  At  last,  after  much  discussion  and 
bar<^aining  about  the  land  that  should  be  given,  Rolf 
gave  his  promise  once  for  all,  and  now  we  may  begin 
to  call  him  fairly  the  Duke  of  Normandy  and  his 
people  the  Normans ;  the  old  days  of  the  Northmen 
in  France  had  come  to  an  end.  For  a  good  many 
year.j  the  neighboring  provinces  called  the  new  duke- 
dom "the  pirate's  land"  and  "the  Northman's 
land,"  but  the  great  Norman  race  was  in  actual 
existence  now,  and  from  this  beginning  under  Rolf, 
the  tall  Norwegian  sea-king,  has  come  one  of  the 
greatest  forces  and  powers  of  the  civilized  world. 

I  must  give  you  some  account  of  the  ceremonies 
at  this  establishment  of  the  new  duke,  for  it  was  a 
grand  occasion,  and  the  king's  train  of  noblemen 
and  gentlemen,  and  all  the  Norman  ofificers  and 
statesmen  went  out  to  do  honor  to  that  day.  The 
place  was  in  a  village  called  St.  Claire,  on  the  river 
Epte,  and  the  French  pitched  their  tents  on  one 
bank  of  the  river  and  the  Normans  on  the  other. 
Then,  at  the  hour  appointed,  Rolf  came  over  to 
meet  the  king,  and  did  what  would  have  astonished 
his  father  Rognwald  and  his  viking  ancestors  very 
much.  He  put  his  hand  between  the  king's  hands 
and  said  :  "  From  this  time  forward  I  am  your  vassal 
and  man,  and  I  give  my  oath  that  I  will  faithfully 
protect  your  life,  your  limbs,  and  your  royal  honor." 

After  this  the  king  and  his  nobles  formally  gave 
Rolf  the  title  of  duke  or  count,  and  swore  that  they 
would  protect  him  and  his  honor  too,  and  all  the 
lands  named  in  the  treaty.  But  there  is  an  old 
story  that,  when  Rolf  was  directed  to  kneel  before 


I 


ROLF    THE   GANGER  45 

King  Charles  and  kiss  his  foot  in  token  of  submis- 
sion, he  was  a  rebellious  subject  at  once.  Perhaps 
he  thought  that  some  of  his  French  rivals  had  re- 
vived this  old  Prankish  custom  on  purpose  to  humble 
his  pride,  but  he  said  nothing,  only  beckoned  quietly 
to  one  of  his  followers  to  come  and  take  his  place. 
Out  steps  the  man.  I  do  not  doubt  that  his  eyes 
were  dancing,  and  that  his  yellow  beard  hid  a 
laughing  mouth  ;  he  did  not  bend  his  knee  at  all,  but 
caught  the  king's  foot,  and  lifted  it  so  high  that  the 
poor  monarch  fell  over  backward,  and  all  the  pirates 
gave  a  shout  of  laughter.  They  did  not  think  much 
of  Charles  the  Simple,  those  followers  of  Rolf  the 
Ganger. 

Afterward  the  marriage  took  place  at  Rouen,  and 
the  high  barons  of  France  went  there  with  the  bride, 
though  it  was  not  a  very  happy  day  for  Gisla,  whom 
Rolf  never  lived  with  or  loved.  He  was  a  great 
many  years  older  than  she,  and  when  she  died  he 
took  Popa,  the  first  wife  back  again — if,  indeed,  he 
had  not  considered  her  the  true  wife  all  the  time. 
Then  on  that  wedding-day  he  became  a  Christian 
too,  though  there  must  have  been  more  change  of 
words  and  manner  than  of  Rolf's  own  thoughts.  He 
received  the  archbishop's  lessons  with  great  amia- 
bility, and  gave  part  of  his  lands  to  the  church  be- 
fore he  divided  the  rest  among  his  new-made  nobles. 
They  put  a  long  white  gown  or  habit  on  him,  such 
as  newly  baptized  persons  wore,  and  he  must  have 
been  an  amusing  sight  to  see,  all  those  seven  days 
that  he  kept  it  on,  tall  old  seafarer  that  he  was,  but 
he  preserved  a  famous  dignity,  and  gave  estates  to 


46  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

seven  churches  in  succession  on  each  day  of  that 
solemn  week.  Then  he  put  on  his  every-day  clothes 
again,  and  gave  his  whole  time  to  his  political  affairs 
and  the  dividing  out  of  Normandy  among  the  Nor- 
wegian chieftains  who  had  come  with  him  on  that 
lucky  last  voyage. 

It  is  said  that  Rolf  himself  was  the  founder  of  the 
system  of  landholding  according  to  the  custom  of 
feudal  times,  and  of  a  regular  system  of  property 
rights,  and  customs  of  hiring  and  dividing  the  landed 
property,  but  there  are  no  state  papers  or  charters 
belonging  to  that  early  time,  as  there  are  in  England, 
so  nobody  can  be  very  sure.  At  any  rate,  he  is  said  to 
have  been  the  best  ruler  possible,  and  his  province  was 
a  model  for  others,  though  it  was  the  most  modern 
in  Gaul.  He  caused  the  dilapidated  towns  and  cities 
to  be  rebuilt,  and  the  churches  were  put  into  good 
repair  and  order.  There  are  parts  of  some  of  the 
Rouen  churches  standing  yet,  that  Rolf  rebuilt. 

There  is  a  great  temptation  to  linger  and  find  out 
all  we  can  of  the  times  of  this  first  Count  of  Nor- 
mandy— so  many  later  traits  and  customs  date  back 
to  Rolf's  reign  ;  and  all  through  this  story  of  the  Nor- 
mans we  shall  find  a  likeness  to  the  first  leader,  and 
trace  his  influence.  His  own  descendants  inherited 
many  of  his  gifts  of  character — a  readiness  of  thought 
and  speech  ;  clear,  bright  minds,  and  vigor  of  action. 
Even  those  who  were  given  over  to  ways  of  vice  and 
shame,  had  a  cleverness  and  attractiveness  that  made 
their  friends  hold  to  them,  in  spite  of  their  sins  and 
treacheries.  A  great  deal  was  thought  of  learning 
and  scholarship  among  the  nobles  and  gentle  folk  of 


ROLF   THE   GANGER.  47 

that  day,  and  Rolf  had  caught  eagerly  at  all  such 
advantages,  even  while  he  trusted  most  to  his  North- 
ern traditions  of  strength  and  courage.  If  he  had 
thought  these  were  enough  to  win  success,  and  had 
brought  up  his  boy  as  a  mere  pirate  and  fighter,  it 
would  have  made  a  great  difference  in  the  future  of 
the  Norman  people  and  their  rulers.  The  need  of  a 
good  education  was  believed  in,  and  held  as  a  sort  of 
family  doctrine,  as  long  as  Rolf's  race  existed,  but 
you  will  see  in  one  after  another  of  these  Norman 
counts  the  nature  of  the  sea-kings  mixed  with  their 
later  learning  and  accomplishments. 

We  cannot  help  being  a  little  amused,  however, 
when  we  find  that  young  William,  the  grandson  of 
old  Rognvald,  loved  his  books  so  well  that  he  begged 
his  father  to  let  him  enter  a  monastery.  The  wise, 
good  man  Botho,  who  was  his  tutor,  had  taught  him 
to  be  proud  of  his  other  grandfather.  Count  Beren- 
ger,  who  belonged  to  one  of  the  most  illustrious 
French  families,  and  taught  him  also  to  follow  the 
example  of  the  good  clergymen  of  Normandy,  as 
well  as  the  great  conquerors  and  chieftains.  By  and 
by  we  shall  see  that  he  loved  to  do  good,  and  to  do 
works  of  mercy,  though  his  people  called  him  Wil- 
liam Longsword,  and  followed  him  to  the  wars. 

Normandy  was  wild  enough  when  Rolf  came  to 
rule  there,  but  before  he  died  the  country  had 
changed  very  much  for  the  better.  He  was  very 
careful  to  protect  the  farmers,  and  such  laws  were 
made,  and  kept,  too,  that  robbery  was  almost  un- 
known throughout  the  little  kingdom.  The  peas- 
ants   could   leave   their    oxen   or  their  tools  in  the 


48  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

field  now,  and  if  by  chance  they  were  stolen,  the 
duke  himself  was  responsible  for  the  loss.  A  pretty 
story  is  told  of  Rolf  that  has  also  been  told  of  other 
wise  rulers.  He  had  gone  out  hunting  one  day,  and 
after  the  sport,  while  he  and  his  companions  were 
resting  and  having  a  little  feast  as  they  sat  on  the 
grass,  Rolf  said  he  would  prove  the  orderliness  and 
trustiness  of  his  people.  So  he  took  off  the  two 
gold  bracelets  which  were  a  badge  of  his  rank,  and 
reached  up  and  hung  them  on  a  tree  close  by,  and 
there  they  were,  safe  and  shining,  a  long  time 
afterward,  when  he  went  to  seek  them.  Perhaps 
this  story  is  only  a  myth,  though  the  tale  is 
echoed  in  other  countries — England,  Ireland,  and 
Lombardy,  and  others  beside.  At  any  rate,  it  gives 
an  expression  of  the  public  safety  and  order,  and 
the  people's  gratitude  to  their  good  kings.  Rolf 
brought  to  his  new  home  some  fine  old  Scandinavian 
customs,  for  his  own  people  were  knit  together  with 
close  bonds  in  Norw^ay.  If  a  farmer's  own  servants 
or  helpers  failed  him  for  any  reason,  he  could  de- 
mand the  help  of  his  neighbors  without  paying 
them,  and  they  all  came  and  helped  him  gather  his 
harvest.  Besides,  the  law  punished  nothing  so  se- 
verely as  the  crime  of  damaging  or  stealing  from  a 
growing  crop.  The  field  was  said  to  be  under  God's 
lock,  with  heaven  for  its  roof,  though  there  might  be 
only  a  hedge  for  its  wall.  If  a  man  stole  from 
another  man's  field,  and  took  the  ripe  corn  into  his 
own  barn,  he  paid  for  it  with  his  life.  This  does  not 
match  very  well  with  the  sea-kings'  exploits  abroad, 
but  they  were  very  strict  rulers,   and  very  honest 


ROLF    THE    GANGER.  49 

among  themselves  at  home.  One  familiar  English 
word  of  ours — hurrah, — is  said  to  date  from  Roli'o 
reign.  Ron  the  Frenchmen  called  our  Rolf ;  and 
there  was  a  law  that  if  a  man  was  in  danger  himself, 
or  caught  his  enemy  doing  any  damage,  he  could 
raise  the  cry  Ha  Roil  !  and  so  invoke  justice  in  Duke 
Rolf's  name.  At  the  sound  of  the  cry,  everybody 
was  bound,  on  the  instant,  to  give  chase  to  the  of- 
fender, and  whoever  failed  to  respond  to  the  cry  of 
Ha  Roil !  must  pay  a  heavy  fine  to  Rolf  himself. 
This  began  the  old  English  fashion  of  "  hue  and 
cry,"  as  well  as  our  custom  of  shouting  Hurrah  ' 
when  we  are  pleased  and  excited. 

We  cannot  help  being  surprised  to  see  how  quickly 
the  Normans  became  Frenchmen  in  their  ways  of 
living  and  even  speaking.  There  is  hardly  a  trace 
of  their  Northern  language  except  a  few  names  of 
localities  left  in  Normandy.  Once  settled  in  their 
new  possessions,  Rolf  and  all  his  followers  seem  to 
have  been  as  eager  for  the  welfare  of  Normandy  as 
they  were  ready  to  devastate  it  before.  They  were 
proud  not  of  being  Norsemen  but  of  being  Normans. 
Otherwise  their  country  could  not  have  done  what 
it  did  in  the  very  next  reign  to  Rolf's,  nor  could 
Rouen  have  become  so  much  like  a  French  city 
even  in  his  own  lifetime.  This  was  work  worthy  of 
his  power,  to  rule  a  people  well,  and  lift  them  up 
toward  better  livino-  and  better  things.  His  vigor 
and  quickness  made  him  able  to  seize  upon  the  best 
traits  and  capabilities  of  his  new  countrymen,  and 
enforce  them  as  patterns  and  examples,  with  no 
tolerance  of  their  faults. 


50       THE   STORY   OF  THE  NORMANS. 

From  the  viking's  ships  which  had  brought  Rolf 
and  his  confederates,  all  equal,  from  the  Hebrides, 
it  is  a  long  step  upward  to  the  Norman  landholders 
and  quiet  citizens  with  their  powerful  duke  in  his 
palace  at  Rouen.  He  had  shared  the  lands  of  Nor- 
mandy, as  we  have  seen,  with  his  companions,  and 
there  was  a  true  aristocracy  among  them — a  rule  of 
the  best,  for  that  is  what  aristocracy  really  means. 
No  doubt  there  was  sin  and  harm  enough  under  the 
new  order  of  things,  but  we  can  see  that  there  was 
a  great  advance  in  its  first  duke's  reign,  even  if  we 
cannot  believe  that  all  the  fine  stories  are  true  that 
his  chroniclers  have  told. 

Rolf  died  in  927,  and  was  a  pious  Christian  ac- 
cording to  his  friends,  and  had  a  lingering  respect 
for  his  heathen  idols  according  to  his  enemies.  He 
was  an  old  man,  and  had  been  a  brave  man,  and  he 
is  honored  to  this  day  for  his  justice  and  his  courage 
in  that  stormy  time  when  he  lived.  Some  say  that 
he  was  forty  years  a  pirate  before  he  came  to  Nor- 
mandy, and  looking  back  on  these  days  of  sea- 
faring and  robbery  and  violence  must  have  made 
him  all  the  more  contented  with  his  pleasant  fields 
and  their  fruit-trees  and  waving  grain  ;  \\ith  his 
noble  city  of  Rouen,  and  his  gentle  son  William,  who 
was  the  friend  of  the  priests. 

Rolf  became  very  feeble  in  body  and  mind,  and 
before  his  death  he  gave  up  the  rule  of  the  duchy  to 
his  son.  He  lingered  for  several  years,  but  we  hear 
nothing  more  of  him  except  that  when  he  lay  dying 
he  had  terrible  dreams  of  his  old  pirate  da}'s,  and 
was    troubled    by    visions    of    his   slaughtered    vie- 


ROLF   THE   GANGER.  51 

tims  and  the  havoc  made  by  the  long-ships.  We 
are  glad  to  know  that  he  waked  from  these  sorrows 
long  enough  to  give  rich  presents  to  the  church  and 
the  poor,  which  comforted  him  greatly  and  eased  his 
unhappy  conscience.  He  was  buried  in  his  city  of 
Rouen,  in  the  cathedral,  and  there  is  his  tomb  still 
with  a  figure  of  him  in  stone — an  old  tired  man  with 
a  furrowed  brow  ;  the  strength  of  his  fourscore  years 
had  become  only  labor  and  sorrow,  but  he  looks  like 
the  Norseman  that  he  was  in  spite  of  the  ducal  robes 
of  French  Normandy.  There  was  need  enough  of 
bravery  in  the  m^an  who  should  fill  his  place.  The 
wars  still  went  on  along  the  borders,  and  there  must 
have  been  fear  of  new  trouble  in  the  duchy  when 
this  old  chieftain  Rolf  had  lain  down  to  die,  and  his 
empty  armor  was  hung  high  in  the  palace  hall. 


^g^^^2^ 

^^^M 

^Mrt 

^^S 

'J^&ii^^ 

^P 

^^ 

^ 

^J^^^ 

^^^ 

S^^S 

^^i 

^^P 

^^£ 

^^ 

^^ 

^^ 

^^ 

^ 

III. 


WILLIAM    LONGSWORD. 


"  For  old,  unhappy,  far-off  things 
And  battles  long  ago."  — Wordsworth. 


Before  we  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  new  duke, 
young  William  Longsword,  we  must  take  a  look  at 
France  and  see  what  traditions  and  influences  were 
going  to  affect  our  colony  of  Northmen  from  that 
side,  and  what  relations  they  had  with  their  neigh- 
bors. Perhaps  the  best  way  to  make  every  thing 
clear  is  to  go  back  to  the  reign  of  the  Emperor 
Charlemagne,  who  inherited  a  great  kingdom,  and 
added  to  it  by  his  wars  and  statesmanship  until  he 
was  crowned  at  Rome,  in  the  year  8oo,  emperor  not 
only  of  Germany  and  Gaul,  but  of  the  larger  part  of 
Italy  and  the  northeastern  part  of  Spain.  Much  of 
this  territory  had  shared  in  the  glories  of  the  Roman 
Empire  and  had  fallen  with  it.  But  Charlemagne 
was  equal  to  restoring  many  lost  advantages,  being 
a  man  of  great  power  and  capacity,  who  found  time, 
while  his  great  campaigns  were  going  on,  to  do  a 
great  deal  for  the  schools  of  his  country.  He  even 
founded  a  sort  of  normal  school,  where  teachers 
were  fitted  for  their  work,  and  his  daughters  were 

52 


WILLIAM  L0NGS1V0RD.  53 

busy  in  copying  manuscripts  ;  the  emperor  himself 
was  fond  of  being  read  to  when  he  was  at  his  meals, 
and  used  to  get  up  at  midnight  to  watch  the  stars. 
Some  of  the  interesting  stories  about  him  may  not 
be  true,  but  we  can  be  sure  that  he  was  a  great 
general  and  a  masterly  governor  and  lawgiver,  and  a 
good  deal  of  a  scholar.  Like  Rolf,  he  was  one  of 
the  men  who  mark  as  well  as  make  a  great  change 
in  the  world's  affairs,  and  in  whose  time  civilization 
takes  a  long  step  forward.  When  we  know  that  it 
took  him  between  thirty  and  forty  years  to  com- 
pletely conquer  the  Saxons,  who  lived  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  his  country,  and  we  read  the  story  of  the 
great  battle  of  Roncesvalles  in  which  the  Basque 
people  won  ;  when  we  follow  Charlemagne  (the 
great  Charles,  as  his  people  love  to  call  him)  on 
these  campaigns  which  take  up  almost  all  his  history, 
we  cannot  help  seeing  that  his  enemies  fought 
against  the  new  order  of  things  that  he  represented. 
It  was  not  only  that  they  did  not  want  Charlemagne 
for  their  king,  but  they  did  not  wish  to  be  Christians 
either,  or  to  forsake  their  own  religion  and  their  own 
ideas  for  his. 

When  he  died  he  was  master  of  a  great  association 
of  countries  which  for  years  yet  could  not  come  to- 
gether except  in  name,  because  of  their  real  un- 
likeness  and  jealousy  of  each  other.  Charlemagne 
had  managed  to  rule  them  all,  for  his  sons  and 
officers,  whom  he  had  put  in  command  of  the  various 
provinces,  were  all  dictated  to  by  him,  and  were  not 
in  the  least  independent  of  his  oversight.  His  fame 
was  widespread.     Embassies  came  to  him  from  d*^ 


54  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

tant  Eastern  countries,  and  no  doubt  he  felt  that  he 
was  establishing  a  great  empire  for  his  successors. 
Thirty  years  after  he  died  the  empire  was  divided 
into  three  parts,  and  thirty-four  years  later  it  was  all 
broken  up  in  the  foolish  reign  of  his  own  great- 
grandson,  who  was  called  Charles  also,  but  instead  of 
Charles  the  Great  became  known  as  Charles  the  Fat. 
From  the  fragments  of  the  old  empire  were  formed 
the  kingdoms  of  France,  of  Italy,  and  of  Germany, 
with  the  less  important  states  of  Lorraine,  Bur- 
gundy, and  Navarre.  But  although  the  great  em- 
pire had  fallen  to  pieces,  each  fragment  kept  some- 
thing of  the  new  spirit  that  had  been  forced  into  it 
by  the  famous  emperor.  For  this  reason  there  v/as 
no  corner  of  his  wide  domain  that  did  not  for  many 
years  after  his  death  stand  in  better  relation  to 
progress,  and  to  the  influence  of  religion,  the  most 
potent  civilizer  of  men. 

All  this  time  the  power  of  the  nobles  had  been  in- 
creasing, for,  whereas,  at  first  they  had  been  only 
the  officers  of  the  king,  and  were  appointed  to  or 
removed  from  their  posts  at  the  royal  pleasure,  they 
contrived  at  length  to  make  their  positions  heredi- 
tary and  to  establish  certain  rights  and  privileges. 
This  was  the  foundation  of  the  feudal  system,  and 
such  a  growth  was  sure  to  strike  deep  root.  Every 
officer  could  hope  to  become  a  ruler  in  a  small  way, 
and  to  endow  his  family  with  whatever  gains  and 
holdings  he  had  managed  to  make  his  own.  And  as 
these  feudal  chiefs  soon  came  to  value  their  power, 
they  were  ready  to  fight,  not  only  all  together  for 
their  king  or  over-lord,  but  for  themselves;  and  one 


WILLIAM  LONGSIVORD.  55 

petty  landholder  with  his  dependents  would  go  out 
to  fight  his  next  neighbor,  each  hoping  to  make  the 
other  his  tributary.  France  proper  begins  to  make 
itself  heard  about  in  these  days. 

If  you  have  read  "  The  Story  of  Rome,"  and  "The 
Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  you  can  trace 
the  still  earlier  changes  in  the  old  province  of  Gaul. 
The  Franks  had  come  westward,  a  bold  association 
of  German  tribes,  and  in  that  fifth  century  when  the 
Roman  rule  was  overthrown,  they  swarmed  over  the 
frontiers  and  settled  by  hundreds  and  thousands  in 
the  conquered  provinces.  But,  strange  to  say,  as 
years  went  on  they  disappeared  ;  not  because  they 
or  their  children  went  away  again  and  left  Gaul  to 
itself,  but  because  they  adopted  the  ways  and 
fashions  of  the  country.  They  were  still  called 
Franks  and  a  part  of  the  country  was  called  France 
even,  but  the  two  races  were  completely  mixed  to- 
gether and  the  conquerors  were  as  Gallic  as  the  con- 
quered. They  even  spoke  the  new  language ;  it 
appears  like  an  increase  or  strengthening  of  the 
Gallic  race  rather  than  a  subjugation  of  it,  and  the 
coming  of  these  Franks  founded,  not  a  new  province 
of  Germany,  but  the  French  nation. 

The  language  was  changed  a  good  deal,  for  of 
course  many  Frankish  or  German  words  were  added, 
as  Roman  (or  Romance)  words  had  been  added  be- 
fore, to  the  old  Gallic,  and  other  things  were  changed 
too.  In  fact  we  are  not  a  bit  surprised  when  we 
find  that  the  German  kings,  Charlemagne's  own  de- 
scendants, were  looked  upon  as  foreigners,  and  some 
of  the  French  leaders,  the  feudal  lords  and  princes, 


56  THE   STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

opposed  themselves  to  their  monarchs.  They  were 
brave  men  and  ready  to  fight  for  what  they  wanted. 
Charles  the  Fat  could  not  keep  himself  on  his  un- 
steady throne,  and  in  Rolf's^ day  France  was  con- 
tinually at  war,  sometimes  at  home,  and  almost  al- 
ways with  the  neighboring  provinces  and  kingdoms. 
Rolf's  contemporary,  Charles  the  Simple,  lost  his 
kingship  i2i_^92^when  his  nobles  revolted  and  put 
another  leader  in  his  place,  who  was  called  Hugh  the 
Great,  Count  of  Paris.  Charles  the  Simple  was  kept 
a  prisoner'imtTrHe  died,  by  a  Count  of  Vermandois, 
of  whom  he  had  claimed  protection,  and  whose 
daughter  William  Longsword  had  married. 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  treachery  among  the 
French  nobles.  Each  was  trying  to  make  himself 
rich  and  great,  and  serving  whatever  cause  could 
promise  most  gain.  There  was  diplomacy  enough, 
and  talking  and  fighting  enough,  but  very  little 
loyalty  and  care  for  public  welfare.  In  Normandy, 
a  movement  toward  better  things  showed  itself  more 
and  more  plainly ;  instead  of  wrangling  over  the 
fragments  of  an  old  dismembered  kingdom,  Rolf 
had  been  carefully  building  a  strong  new  one,  and 
had  been  making  and  keeping  laws  instead  of  break- 
ing laws,  and  trying  to  make  goodness  and  right 
prevail,  and  theft  and  treachery  impossible.  We 
must  not  judge  those  days  by  our  own,  for  many 
things  were  considered  right  then  that  are  wrong 
now;  but  Rolf  knew  tha^  order  and  bravery  were 
good,  and  that  learning  was  good,  and  so  he  kept 
his  dukedom  quiet,  though  he  was  ready  enough  to 
fight    his    enemies,    and    he    sent    his   son  William 


WILLIAM  LONGSWORD.  57 

Longsword  to  school,  and  made  him  a  good 
scholar  as  well  as  soldier.  This  was  as  good  train- 
ing as  a  young  man  could  have  in  those  stormy- 
times. 

Under  Rolf,  Normandy  had  held  faithfully  to  the 
king,  but  under  his  son's  rule  we  find  a  long  chapter 
of  changes,  for  William  was  constantly  transferring 
his  allegiance  from  king  to  duke.  When  he  suc- 
ceeded his  father,  Normandy  and  France  were  at 
war — that  is,  Rolf  would  not  acknowledge  any  king 
but  Charles,  who  was  in  prison,  while  the  usurper, 
Rudolph  of  Burgundy,  was  on  the  French  throne. 
It  is  very  hard  to  keep  track  of  the  different  parties 
and  their  leaders.  Everybody  constantly  changed 
sides,  and  it  is  x\6\.  very  clear  what  glory  there  was 
in  being  a  king,  when  the  vassals  were  so  powerful 
that  they  could  rebel  against  their  sovereign  and 
make  war  on  him  as  often  as  they  pleased.  Yet 
they  were  very  decided  about  having  a  king,  if  only 
to  show  how  much  greater  they  were  by  contrast. 
Duke  Hugh  of  Paris  takes  the  most  prominent  place 
just  at  this  time,  and  with  his  widespread  dominions 
and  personal  power  and  high  rank,  we  cannot  help 
wondering  that  he  did  not  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  kingdom.  Instead  of  that  he  chose  to  remain 
a  subject,  while  he  controlled  the  king's  actions  and 
robbed  him  of  his  territory  and  kept  him  in  personal 
bondage.  He  had  no  objection  to  transferring  his 
strange  loyalty  from  one  king  to  another,  but  he 
would  always  have  a  king  over  him,  though  at  three 
different  times  there  was  nothing  except  his  own 
plans    to    hinder   him    from    putting   the    crown   of 


58  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

France  upon  his  own  head.  He  had  a  stronger 
guiding  principle  than  some  of  his  associates,  and 
seems  to  have  been  a  better  man. 

From  Charles  the  Simple  had  come  the  lands  of 
Normandy,  and  to  him  the  first  vow  of  allegiance  had 
been  made,  and  so  both  Rolf  and  William  took  his 
part  and  were  enemies  to  his  usurper  and  his  foes. 
When  William/:ame  into  possession  of  his  dukedom, 
one  of  his  first  acts  was  to  do  homage  to  his  father's 
over-lord,  and  he  never  did  homage  to  Rudolph  the 
usurper  until  Charles  was  dead,  and  even  then  waited 
three  years ;  but  Rudolph  was  evidently  glad  to  be 
friends,  and  presented  Longsword  with  a  grant  of 
the  sea-coast  in  Brittany.  The  Norman  duke  was  a 
formidable  rival  if  any  trouble  should  arise,  and  the 
Normans  themselves  were  very  independent  in  their 
opinions.  One  of  Rolf's  followers  had  long  ago 
told  a  Frenchman  that  his  chief,  who  had  come  to 
Neustria  a  king  without  a  kingdom,  now  held  his 
broad  lands  from  the  sun  and  from  God.  They  kept 
strange  faith  with  each  other  in  those  days.  Each 
man  had  his  own  ambitious  plans,  and  his  leagues 
and  friendships  were  only  for  the  sake  of  bringing 
them  about.  This  was  not  being  very  grateful,  but 
Rolf's  men  knew  that  the  Breton  lands  were  the 
price  of  peace  and  alliance,  and  not  a  free  gift  for 
love's  sake  by  any  means. 

As  we  try  to  puzzle  out  a  distinct  account  of 
William's  reign,  we  find  him  sometimes  the  enemy 
of  Rudolph  and  in  league  with  Hugh  of  Paris,  some- 
times he  was  in  alliance  with  Rudolph,  though  he 
would  not  call  him  king,  and  oftener  he  would  have 


WILLIAM  LONGSWORD.  59 

nothing  to  do  with  cither.  It  is  very  dull  reading, 
except  as  we  trace  the  characters  of  the  men  them- 
selves. 

Most  of  the  Normans  had  accepted  Christianity 
many  years  before,  in  the  time  of  Rolf,  and  had  been 
christened,  but  a  certain  number  had  refused  it  and 
clung  to  the  customs  of  their  ancestors.  These 
people  had  formed  a  separate  neighborhood  or 
colony  near  Baycux,  and  after  several  generations, 
while  they  had  outwardly  conformed  to  the  prevail- 
ing observances,  they  still  remained  Northmen  at 
heart.  They  were  remarkable  among  the  other 
Normans  for  their  great  turbulence  and  for  an 
almost  incessant  opposition  to  the  dukes,  and  some 
of  them  kept  the  old  pagan  devices  on  their  shields, 
and  went  into  battle  shouting  the  Northern  war-cry 
of  "  TJior  aide  !  "  instead  of  the  pious  "  Dze7i  aide  !  " 
or  "  Dex  aide  !  "  of  Normandy. 

Whatever  relic  of  paganism  may  have  clung  to 
Rolf  himself,  it  is  pretty  certain  that  his  son,  half 
Frenchman  by  birth,  was  almost  wholly  a  Frenchman 
in  feeling.  We  must  remember  that  he  was  not  the 
son  of  Gisla  the  king's  sister,  however,  but  of  Popa  of 
Bayeux.  There  was  a  brother  or  half-brother  of  hers 
called  Bernard  de  Senlis,  who  in  spite  of  his  father's 
murder  and  the  unhappy  beginning  of  their  acquaint- 
ance with  Rolf,  seems  to  have  become  very  friendly 
with  the  Norse  chieftain. 

The  fortunes  of  war  were  so  familiar  in  those  days 
and  kept  so  many  men  at  fierce  enmity  with  each 
other,  that  we  are  half  surprised  to  come  upon  this 
sincere,  kindly  relationship  in  the  story  of  the  early 


6o  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

Normans.  Even  Rolf's  wife's  foolish  little  nickname, 
"  Popa,"  under  cover  of  which  her  own  name  has 
been  forgotten, —  this  name  of  puppet  or  little  doll, 
gives  a  hint  of  affectionateness  and  a  sign  of  home- 
likeness  which  we  should  be  very  sorry  to  miss.  As 
for  Bernard  de  Senlis,  he  protected  not  only  the 
rights  of  Rolf's  children  and  grandchildren,  but  their 
very  lives,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  his  standing 
between  them  and  their  enemies  Rolf's  successors 
would  never  have  been  dukes  of  Normandy. 

With  all  his  inherited  power  and  his  own  personal 
bravery,  William  found  himself  in  a  very  hard  place. 
He  kept  steadfastly  to  his  ideas  of  right  and  might, 
and  one  thinks  that  with  his  half  French  and  half 
Northman  nature  he  might  have  understood  both  of 
the  parties  that  quickly  began  to  oppose  each  other 
in  Normandy.  He  ruled  as  a  French  prince,  and  he 
and  his  followers  were  very  eager  to  hold  their  place 
in  the  general  confederacy  of  France,  and  eager  too 
that  Normandy  should  be  French  in  religion, 
manners,  and  customs.  Yet  they  did  not  wish  Nor- 
mandy to  be  absorbed  into  France  in  any  political 
sense.  Although  there  were  several  men  of  Danish 
birth,  Rolf's  old  companions,  who  took  this  view  of 
things,  and  threw  in  their  lot  with  the  French  party, 
like  Botho,  William's  old  tutor,  and  Oslac,  and  Ber- 
nard the  Dane,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  again,  there 
was  a  great  body  of  the  Normans  who  rebelled  and 
made  much  trouble. 

William's  French  speech  and  French  friends  were 
all  this  time  making  him  distrusted  and  even  disliked 
by  a  large  portion  of  his  own  suljjects.      There  stil' 


WILLIAM  LONGSWORD.  6 1 

remained  a  strong  Northern  and  pagan  influence  in 
the  older  parts  of  the  Norman  duchy;  while  in  the 
new  lands  of  Brittany  some  of  the  independent 
Danish  settlements,  being  composed  chiefly  of  the 
descendants  of  men  who  had  forced  their  way  into 
that  country  before  Rolf's  time,  were  less  ready  for 
French  rule  than  even  the  Normans.  Between  these 
new  allies  and  the  disaffected  Normans  themselves  a 
grand  revolt  was  organized  under  the  leadership  of 
an  independent  Danish  chief  from  one  of  the  Breton 
provinces.  The  rebels  demanded  one  concession  after 
another,  and  frightened  Duke  William  dreadfully  ;  he 
even  proposed  to  gi\'e  up  his  duchy  and  to  beg  the 
protection  of  his  French  uncle,  Bernard  de  Senlis. 
We  are  afraid  that  he  had  left  his  famous  longsword 
at  home  on  that  campaign,  until  it  appears  that  his 
old  counsellor,  Bernard  the  Dane,  urged  him  to  go 
back  and  meet  the  insurgents,  and  that  a  great  vic- 
tory was  won  and  the  revolt  ended  for  that  time. 
The  account  of  William's  wonderful  success  is  made 
to  sound  almost  miraculous  by  the  old  chronicles. 

The  two  Norman  parties  held  separate  territories 
and  were  divided  geographically,  and  each  party 
wished  to  keep  to  itself  and  not  be  linked  with  the 
other.  The  Christian  duke  who  liked  French  speech 
and  French  government  might  keep  Christian  Rouen 
and  Evreux  where  Frenchmen  abounded,  but  the 
heathen  Danes  to  the  westward  would  rather  be  inde- 
pendent of  a  leader  who  had  turned  his  face  upon  the 
traditions  and  beliefs  of  his  ancestors.  For  the  time 
being,  these  rebellious  subjects  must  keep  their 
grudges  and  bear  their  wrongs  as  best  they  might, 


62  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

for  their  opponents  were  the  masters  now,  and 
William  was  free  to  aim  at  still  greater  influence  in 
French  affairs  as  his  dominion  increased. 

Through  his  whole  life  he  was  swayed  by  religious 
impulses,  and,  as  we  have  known,  it  was  hard  work 
at  one  time  to  keep  him  from  being  a  monk.  Yet 
he  was  not  very  lavish  in  his  presents  to  the  church, 
as  a  good  monarch  was  expected  to  be  in  those  days, 
and  most  of  the  abbeys  and  cathedrals  which  had 
suffered  so  cruelly  in  the  days  of  the  pirates  were 
very  poor  still,  and  many  were  even  left  desolate. 
His  government  is  described  as  just  and  vigorous, 
and  as  a  general  thing  his  subjects  liked  him  and 
upheld  his  authority.  He  was  ver>'  desirous  all  the 
time  to  bring  his  people  within  the  bounds  of  Chris- 
tian civilization  and  French  law  and  order,  yet  he 
did  not  try  to  cast  away  entirely  the  inherited  speech 
or  ideas  of  his  ancestors.  Of  course  his  treatment  of 
the  settlements  to  the  westward  and  the  Danish  party 
in  his  dominion  must  have  varied  at  different  times 
in  his  reign.  Yet,  after  he  had  made  great  efforts  to 
identify  himself  with  the  French,  he  still  found  him- 
self looked  down  upon  by  his  contemporaries  and 
called  the  Duke  of  the  Pirates,  and  so  in  later  years 
he  concerned  himself  more  with  his  father's  people, 
and  even,  so  the  tradition  goes,  gave  a  new  Danish 
colony  direct  from  Denmark  leave  to  settle  in  Brit- 
tany. His  young  son  Richard  was  put  under  the 
care,  not  of  French  priests,  but  his  own  old  tutor, 
Botho  the  Dane,  and  the  boy  and  his  master  were 
sent  purposely  to  Bayeux,  the  very  city  which  young 
Richard's  grandfather,  Rolf,,  had  helped  to  ravage. 


Y-^jr 


WILLIAM  LONGSWORD.  63 

At  Rouen  the  Northman's  language  was  already 
almost  forgotten,  but  the  heir  to  the  duchy  was  sent 
where  he  could  hear  it  every  day,  though  his  good 
teacher  had  accepted  French  manners  and  the  re- 
ligion of  Rome.  William  Longsword  had  become 
sure  that  there  was  no  use  in  trying  to  be  either 
wholly  Danish  or  wholly  French,  the  true  plan  for  a 
Duke  of  Normandy  was  to  be  Dane  and  Frenchman 
at  once.  The  balance  seems  to  have  swung  toward 
the  Danish  party  for  a  time  after  this,  and  after  a 
troubled,  bewildering  reign  to  its  very  close,  William 
died  at  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  who  had  lured  him 
away  to  hold  a  conference  with  Arnulf,  of  Flanders, 
at  Picquigny,  where  he  came  to  a  mysterious  and 
sudden  death. 

The  next  year,  943 , "was  a  marked  one  in  France 
and  began  a  new  order  of  things.  There  was  a  birth 
and  a  death  which  changed  the  current  of  history. 
The  Count  of  Vermandois,  the  same  man  who  had 
kept  the  prison  and  helped  in  the  murder  of  Charles 
the  Simple,  was  murdered  himself — or  at  least  died 
in  an  unexplained  and  horrible  way,  as  men  were  apt 
to  do  who  were  called  tyrants  and  were  regicides  be- 
side. His  dominion  was  divided  among  his  sons, 
except  some  parts  of  it  that  Hugh  of  Paris  seized. 
This  was  the  death,  and  the  birth  was  of  a  son  and 
heir  to  Hugh  of  Paris  himself.  His  first  wife  was  an 
Englishwoman,  Eadhild,  but  she  had  died  childless, 
to  his  great  sorrow.  This  baby  was  the  son  of  his 
wife  H.idwisa,  the  daughter  of  King  Henry  of  Ger- 
many, and  he  was  called  Hugh  for  his  father  ;»^iiugiL 
Capet,  the  future   king.     After  this   Hugh   of  Paris 


64        THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

changed  his  plans  and  his  poHcy.  True  enough,  he 
had  never  consented  to  being  a  king  himself,  but  it 
was  quite  another  thing  to  hinder  his  son  from 
reigning  over  France  by  and  by.  Here  the  French- 
man begins  to  contrast  himself  more  plainly  against 
the  Frank,  just  as  we  have  seen  the  Norman  begin 
to  separate  himself  from  the  Northman.  Under 
Rolf  Normandy  had  been  steadily  loyal  to  King 
Charles  the  Simple  ;  under  William  it  had  wavered 
between  the  king  and  the  duke  ;  under  Richard  we 
shall  see  Normandy  growing  more  French  again. 

Under  William  Longsword,  now  Frenchman,  now 
Northman  was  coming  to  the  front,  and  everybody 
was  ready  to  fight  without  caring  so  very  much  what 
it  was  all  about.  But  everywhere  we  find  the 
striking  figure  of  the  young  duke  carrying  his  great 
sword,  that  came  to  be  the  symbol  of  order  and 
peace.  The  golden  hilt  and  long  shining  blade  are 
familiar  enough  in  the  story  of  William's  life. 
Somehow  we  can  hardly  think  of  him  without  his 
great  weapon.  With  it  he  could  strike  a  might}'  blow, 
and  in  spite  of  his  uncommon  strength,  he  is  said  to 
have  been  of  a  slender,  graceful  figure,  with  beautiful 
features  and  clear,  bright  color  like  a  young  girl's. 
His  charming,  cheerful,  spirited  manners  won  friend- 
ship and  liking.  ''  He  had  an  eye  for  splendor," 
says  one  biographer ;  "well  spoken  to  all,  William 
Longsword  could  quote  a  text  to  the  priest,  listen 
respectfully  to  the  wise  sayings  of  the  old,  talk  mer- 
rily with  his  young  friends  about  chess  and  tables, 
discuss  the  flight  of  the  falcon  and  the  fleetness  of 
the  hound." 


WILLI  A  M  LO.VCS  I VORD.  65 

When  he  desired  to  be  a  monk,  he  was  persuaded 
that  his  rank  and  duties  would  not  permit  such  a 
sacrifice,  and  that  he  must  act  his  part  in  the  world 
rather  than  in  the  cloister,  for  Normandy's  sake,  but 
in  spite  of  his  gay  life  and  apparent  fondness 
for  the  world's  delights  and  pleasures,  when  he 
died  his  followers  found  a  sackcloth  garment  and 
scourge  under  his  splendid  clothes.  And  as  he  lay 
dead  in  Rouen  the  rough  haircloth  shirt  was  turned 
outward  at  the  throat  so  that  all  the  people  could 
see.  He  had  not  the  firmness  and  decision  that  a 
duke  of  Normandy  needed  ;  he  was  very  affectionate 
and  impulsive,  but  he  was  a  miserly  person,  and  had 
not  the  pcnver  of  holding  on  and  doing  what  ought 
to  be  done  with  all  his  might. 


IV. 

RICHARD    THE    FEARLESS. 

"  By  many  a  warlike  feat 

Lopped  the  French  ]i]-js." — Dkayton. 

Around  the  city  of  Bayeux,  Avere  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Northmen,  and  both  Rolf's  followers 
and  the  later  colonists  had  kept  that  part  of  the 
duchy  almost  free  from  French  influence.  There 
Longsword's  little  son  Richard  (whose  mother  was 
Espriota,  the  duke's  first  wife,  whom  he  had  married 
in  Danish  fashion),  was  sent  to  learn  the  Northmen's 
language,  and  there  he  lived  yet  with  his  teachers  and 
Count  Bernard,  when  the  news  came  of  the  murder 
of  his  father  by  Arnulf  of  Flanders,  with  Avhom 
William  had  gone  to  confer  in  good  faith. 

We  can  imagine  for  ourselves  the  looks  of  the 
little  lad  and  his  surroundings.  He  was  fond  even 
then  of  the  chase,  and  it  might  be  on  some  evening 
when  he  had  come  in  with  the  huntsmen  that  he 
found  a  breathless  messenger  who  had  brought  the 
news  of  Lonsgword's  death.  We  can  imagine  the  low 
roofed,  stone-arched  room  with  its  thick  pillars,  and 
deep  stone  casings  to  the  windows,  where  the  wind 
came  in  and  made  the  torches  fiure.     At  each  end  of 

66 


RICHARD  THE  FEARLESS.  67 

the  room  would  be  a  great  fire,  and  the  servants 
busy  before  one  of  them  with  the  supper,  and  there 
on  the  flagstones,  in  a  dark  heap,  is  the  stag,  and 
perhaps  some  smaller  game  that  the  hunters  have 
thrown  down.  There  are  no  chimneys,  and  the  fires 
leap  up  against  the  walls,  and  the  smoke  curls  along 
the  ceiling  and  finds  its  way  out  as  best  it  can. 

One  end  of  the  room  is  a  step  or  two  higher  than 
the  other,  and  here  tliere  is  a  long  table  spread  with 
drinking-horns  and  bowls,  and  perhaps  some 
beautiful  silver  cups,  with  figures  of  grapevines 
and  fauns  and  satyrs  carved  on  them,  which  the 
Norse  pirates  brought  home  long  ago  from  Italy. 
The  floor  has  been  covered  with  rushes  which  the 
girls  of  the  household  scatter,  and  some  of  these 
girls  wear  old  Norse  ornaments  of  wrought  silver, 
with  bits  of  coral,  that  must  have  come  from 
Italy  too.  The  great  stag-hounds  are  stretched 
out  asleep  after  their  day's  work,  and  the  little  Rich- 
ard is  tired  too,  and  has  thrown  himself  into  a  tall 
carved  chair  by  the  fire. 

Suddenly  there  comes  the  sound  of  a  horn,  and 
everybody  starts  and  listens.  Was  the  household  to 
be  attacked  and  besieged  ?  for  friends  were  less 
likely  visitors  than  enemies  in  those  rough  times. 

The  dogs  bark  and  cannot  be  quieted,  and  again 
the  horn  sounds  outside  the  gate,  and  somebody 
has  gone  to  answer  it,  and  those  who  listen  hear  the 
great  hinges  creak  presently  as  the  gate  is  opened 
and  the  sound  of  horses'  feet  in  the  courtyard. 
The  dogs  have  found  that  there  is  no  danger  and 
creep  away  lazily  to  go  to  sleep  again,  but  when  the 


68        THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

men  of  the  household  come  back  to  the  great  hall 
their  faces  are  sadly  changed.  Something  has  hap- 
pened. 

Among  them  are  two  guests,  two  old  counts 
whom  everybody  knows,  and  they  walk  gravely  with 
bent  heads  toward  the  boy  Richard,  who  stands  by 
the  smaller  fire,  in  the  place  of  honor,  near  his  fath- 
er's chair.  Has  his  father  come  back  sooner  than  he 
expected  ?  The  boy's  heart  must  beat  fast  with 
hope  for  one  minute,  then  he  is  frightened  by  the 
silence  in  the  great  hall.  Nobody  is  singing  or  talk- 
ing ;  there  is  a  dreadful  stillness  ;  the  very  dogs  are 
quiet  and  watching  from  their  beds  on  the  new- 
strewn  rushes.  The  fires  snap  and  crackle  and  throw 
long  shadows  about  the  room. 

What  are  the  two  counts  going  to  do— Bernard 
Harcourt  and  Rainulf  Ferrieres  ?  They  are  kneeling 
before  the  little  boy,  who  is  ready  to  run  away,  he 
does  not  know  why.  Count  Bernard  has  knelt  be- 
fore him,  and  says  this,  as  he  holds  Richard's  small 
hand  :  "  Richard,  Duke  of  Normandy,  I  am  your 
liegeman  and  true  vassal  " ;  and  then  the  other  count 
does  and  says  the  same,  while  Bernard  stands  by  and 
covers  his  face  with  his  hands  and  weeps. 

Richard  stands,  wondering,  as  all  the  rest  of  the 
noblemen  promise  him  their  service  and  the  loyalty 
of  their  castles  and  lands,  and  suddenly  the  truth 
comes  to  him.  His  dear  father  is  dead,  and  he  must 
be  the  duke  now  ;  he,  a  little  stupid  boy,  must  take 
the  place  of  the  handsome,  smiling  man  with  his 
shining  sword  and  black  horse  and  purple  robe  and 
the  feather  with  its  shining  clasp  in  the  high  ducal 


RICHARD   THE  FEARLESS.  69 

cap  that  is  as  splendid  as  any  crown.  Richard  must 
take  the  old  counts  for  his  playfellows,  and  learn 
to  rule  his  province  of  Normandy  ;  and  what  a  long, 
sad,  frightened  night  that  must  have  been  to  the 
fatherless  boy  who  must  win  for  himself  the  good 
name  of  Richard  the  Fearless  ! 

Next  day  they  rode  to  Rouen,  and  there,  when  the 
nobles  had  come,  the  dead  duke  was  buried  with 
great  ceremony,  and  all  the  people  mourned  for  him 
and  were  ready  to  swear  vengeance  on  his  treacher- 
ous murderer.  After  the  service  was  over  Richard 
was  led  back  from  the  cathedral  to  his  palace,  and 
his  heavy  black  robes  Were  taken  off  and  a  scarlet 
tunic  put  on  ;  his  long  brown  hair  was  curled,  and 
he  was  made  as  fine  as  a  little  duke  could  be,  though 
his  eyes  were  red  with  crying,  and  he  hated  all  the 
pomp  and  splendor  that  only  made  him  the  surer 
that  his  father  was  gone. 

They  brought  him  down  to  the  great  hall  of  the 
palace,  and  there  he  found  all  the  barons  who  had 
come  to  his  father's  burial,  and  the  boy  was  told  to 
pull  off  his  cap  to  them  and  bow  low  in  answer  to 
their  salutations.  Then  he  slowly  crossed  the  hall, 
and  all  the  barons  walked  after  him  in  a  grand  pro- 
cession according  to  rank — first  the  Duke  of  Brittany 
and  last  the  poorest  of  the  knights,  all  going  to  the 
Church  of  Notre  Dame,  the  great  cathedral  of 
Rouen,  where  the  solemn  funeral  chants  had  been 
sung  so  short  a  time  before. 

There  were  all  the  priests  and  the  Norman  bish- 
ops, and  the  choir  sang  as  Richard  walked  to  his 
place  near  the  altar  where  he  had  seen  his  father  sit 


70  THE   STORY  OF  THE^  NORMANS. 

SO  many  times.  All  the  long  services  of  the  mass 
were  performed,  and  then  the  boy-duke  gave  his 
promise,  in  the  name  of  God  and  the  people  of  Nor- 
mandy, that  he  would  be  a  good  and  true  ruler, 
guard  them  from  their  foes,  maintain  truth,  punish 
sin,  and  protect  the  Church.  Two  of  the  bishops 
put  on  him  the  great  mantle  of  the  Norman  dukes, 
crimson  velvet  and  trimmed  with  ermine  ;  but  it  was 
so  long  that  it  lay  in  great  folds  on  the  ground.  Then 
the  archbishop  crowned  the  little  lad  with  a  crown  so 
wide  and  heavy  that  one  of  the  barons  had  to  hold 
it  in  its  place.  Last  of  all,  they  gave  him  his  father's 
sword,  taller  than  he,  but  he  reached  for  the  hilt  and 
held  it  fast  as  he  was  carried  back  to  his  throne, 
though  Count  Bernard  offered  to  carry  it.  Then  all 
the  noblemen  did  homage,  from  Duke  Alan  of  Brit- 
tany down,  and  Richard  swore  in  God's  name  to  be 
the  good  lord  of  every  one  and  to  protect  him  from 
his  foes.  Perhaps  some  of  the  elder  men  w^ho  had 
followed  Rolf  the  Ganger  felt  very  tenderly  toward 
this  grandchild  of  their  brave  old  leader,  and  the 
friends  of  kind-hearted  Longsword  meant  to  be  loyal 
and  very  fatherly  to  his  defenceless  boy,  upon  whom 
so  much  honor,  and  anxiety  too,  had  early  fallen. 

See  what  a  change  there  was  in  Normandy  since 
Rolf  came,  and  what  a  growth  in  wealth  and  order- 
liness the  dukedom  had  made.  All  the  feudal  or 
clannish  spirit  had  had  time  to  grow,  and  Normandy 
ranked  as  the  first  of  the  French  duchies.  Still  it 
would  be  some  time  yet  before  the  Danes  and  Nor- 
wegians of  the  north  could  cease  to  think  of  the 
Normans  as  their  brothers  and  cousins,  and  begin  to 


RICHARD   THE  FEARLESS.  7 1 

call  them  Frenchmen  or  Welskes,  or  any  of  the 
other  names  they  called  the  people  in  France  or 
Britain.  It  was  sure  to  be  a  hard  dukedom  enough 
for  the  boy-duke  to  rule,  and  all  his  youth  was  spent 
in  stormy,  dangerous  times. 

His  father  had  stood  godfather — a  very  close  tie — 
to  the  heir  of  the  new  king  of  France,  who  was 
called  Louis,  and  he  was  also  at  peace  with  Count 
Hugh  of  Paris.  Soon  after  Longsword's  death  King 
Louis  appeared  in  Rouen  at  the  head  of  a  body  of 
troops,  and  demanded  that  he  should  be  considered 
the  guardian  and  keeper  of  young  Richard  during 
his  minority.  He  surprised  the  counts  who  were  in 
Rouen,  and  who  were  just  then  nearly  defenceless. 
It  would  never  do  for  them  to  resist  Louis  and  his 
followers  ;  they  had  no  troops  at  hand  ;  and  they 
believed  that  the  safest  thing  was  to  let  Richard  go, 
for  a  time  at  any  rate.  It  was  true  that  he  was  the 
king's  vassal,  and  Normandy  had  always  done  hom- 
age to  the  kings  of  France.  And  with  a  trusty 
baron  for  protection  the  boy  was  sent  away  out  of 
pleasant  Normandy  to  the  royal  castle  of  Laon. 
The  Rouen  people  were  not  very  gracious  to  King 
Louis,  and  that  made  him  angry.  Indeed,  the 
French  king's  dominion  was  none  too  large,  and 
everybody  knew  that  he  would  be  glad  to  possess 
himself  of  the  dukedom,  or  of  part  of  it,  and  that  he 
was  not  unfriendly  to  Arnulf,  who  had  betrayed 
William  Longsword.  So  the  barons  who  were 
gathered  at  Rouen,  and  all  the  Rouen  people,  must 
have  felt  very  anxious  and  very  troubled  about 
Richard's    safety  when   the    French    horsemen    gal- 


y2  THE   STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

loped  away  with  him.  From  time  to  time  news 
came  that  the  boy  was  not  being  treated  very  well. 
At  any  rate  he  was  not  having  the  attention  and  care 
that  belonged  to  a  duke  of  Normandy.  The  duke- 
dom was  tempestuous  enough  at  any  time,  with  its 
Northman  party,  and  its  French  party,  and  their 
jealousies  and  rivalries.  But  they  were  all  loyal  to 
the  boy-duke  who  belonged  to  both,  and  who  could 
speak  the  pirate's  language  as  well  as  that  of  the 
French  courtr  If  his  life  were  brought  to  an  un- 
timely end  what  a  falling  apart  there  would  be  among 
those  who  wei^e  not  unwilling  now  to  be  his  subjects. 
No  wonder  that  the  old  barons  were  so  eager  to  get 
Richard  home  again,  and  so  distrustful  of  the  polite 
talk  and  professions  of  affection  and  interest  on 
King  Louis's  part.  Louis  had  two  little  sons  of  his 
own,  and  it  would  be  very  natural  if  he  sometimes 
remembered  that,  if  Richard  were  dead,  one  of  his 
own  boys  might  be  Duke  of  Normandy  instead — that 
is,  if  old  Count  Hugh  of  Paris  did  not  stand  in  the  way. 
So  away  went  Richard  from  his  pleasant  country 
of  Normandy,  with  its  apple  and  cherry  orchards 
and  its  comfortable  farms,  from  his  Danes  and  his 
Normans,  and  the  perplexed  and  jealous  barons.  A 
young  nobleman,  named  Osmond  de  Centeville,  was 
his  guardian,  and  promised  to  take  the  best  of  care 
of  his  young  charge,  but  when  they  reached  the 
grim  castle  of  Laon  they  found  that  King  Louis' 
promises  were  not  likely  to  be  kept.  Gerberga,  the 
French  queen,  was  a  brave  woman,  but  eager  to 
forward  the  fortunes  of  her  own  household,  and 
nobody  took  much  notice  of  the  boy  who  was  of  so 


RICHARD   THE  FEARLESS.  73 

much  consequence  at  home  in  his  own  castle  of 
Rouen.  We  cannot  help  wondering  why  Richard's 
life  did  not  come  to  a  sudden  end  like  his  father's, 
but  perhaps  Osmond's  good  care  and  vigilance  gave 
no  chance  for  treachery  to  do  its  work. 

After  awhile  the  boy-duke  began  to  look  very  pale 
and  ill,  poor  little  fellow,  and  Osmond  watched  him 
tenderly,  and  soon  the  rest  of  the  people  in  the 
castle  had  great  hopes  that  he  was  going  to  die. 
The  tradition  says  that  he  was  not  sick  at  all  in 
reality,  but  made  himself  appear  so  by  refusing  to 
eat  or  sleep.  At  any  rate  he  grew  so  pale  and  feeble 
that  one  night  everybody  was  so  sure  that  he  could 
not  live  that  they  fell  to  rejoicing  and  had  a  great 
banquet.  There  was  no  need  to  stand  guard  any 
longer  over  the  little  chief  of  the  pirates,  and  nobody 
takes  much  notice  of  Osmond  even  as  he  goes  to 
and  from  the  tower  room  with  a  long  face. 

Late  in  the  evening  he  speaks  of  his  war-horse 
which  he  has  forgotten  to  feed  and  litter  down,  and 
goes  to  his  stable  in  the  courtyard  with  a  huge 
bundle  of  straw.  The  castle  servants  see  him,  but 
let  him  pass  as  usual,  and  the  banquet  goes  on,  and 
the  lights  burn  dim,  and  the  night  wanes  before  any- 
body finds  out  that  there  was  a  thin  little  lad,  keep- 
ing very  still,  in  the  straw  that  Osmond  carried,  and 
that  the  two  companions  were  riding  for  hours  in  the 
starlight  toward  the  Norman  borders.  Hurrah!  we 
can  almost  hear  the  black  horse's  feet  clatter  and 
ring  along  the  roads,  and  take  a  long  breath  of  relief 
when  we  know  that  the  fugitives  get  safe  to  Crecy 
castle  within  the  Norman  lines  next  morning. 


74       THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

King  Louis  was  very  angry  and  sent  a  message 
that  Richard  must  come  back,  but  the  barons  re- 
fused, and  before  long  there  was  a  great  battle. 
There  could  really  be  no  such  thing  as  peace  be- 
tween the  Normans  and  the  kingdom  of  France, 
and  Louis  had  grown  more  and  more  anxious  to  rid 
the  country  of  the  hated  pirates.  Hugh  the  Great 
and  he  were  enemies  at  heart  and  stood  in  each 
other's  way,  but  Louis  made  believe  that  he  was 
friendly,  and  granted  his  formidable  rival  some  new 
territory,  and  displayed  his  royal  condescension  in 
various  ways.  Each  of  these  rulers  was  more  than 
willing  to  increase  his  domain  by  appropriating  Nor- 
mandy, and  when  we  remember  the  two  parties  in 
Normandy  itself  we  cannot  help  thinking  that  Rich- 
ard's path  was  going  to  be  a  very  rough  one  to 
follow.  His  father's  enemy,  Arnulf  of  Flanders,  was 
the  enemy  of  Normandy  still,  and  always  in  secret 
or  open  league  with  Louis.  The  province  of  Brittany 
was  hard  to  control,  and  while  William  Longsword 
had  favored  the  French  party  in  his  dominions  he 
had  put  Richard  under  the  care  of  the  Northmen. 
Yet  this  had  not  been  done  in  a  way  to  give  com- 
plete satisfaction,  for  the  elder  Danes  clung  to  their 
old  religion  and  cared  nothing  for  the  solemn  rites 
of  the  Church,  by  means  of  which  Richard  had  been 
invested  with  the  dukedom.  They  were  half  insulted 
by  such  silly  pageantry,  yet  it  was  not  to  the  leaders 
of  the  old  pirate  element  in  the  dukedom,  but  to  the 
Christianized  Danes,  whose  head-quarters  were  at 
Rouen,  that  the  guardianship  of  the  heir  of  Nor- 
mandy had  been  given.     He  did  not  belong  to  the 


RlCffARD  THE  FEARLESS.  75 

Christians,  but  to  the  Norsemen,  yet  not  to  the 
old  pagan  vikings  either.  It  was  a  curious  and  per- 
haps a  very  wise  thing  to  do,  but  the  Danes  Httle 
thought  when  Longsword  promised  solemnly  to  put 
his  son  under  their  charge,  that  he  meant  the  Chris- 
tian Danes  like  Bernard  and  Botho.  There  was  one 
thing  that  all  the  Normans  agreed  upon,  that  they 
would  not  be  the  vassals  and  lieges  of  the  king  of 
France.  They  had  promised  it  in  their  haste  when 
the  king  had  come  and  taken  young  Richard  away 
to  Laon,  but  now  that  they  had  time  to  consider, 
they  saw  what  a  mistake  it  had  been  to  make  Louis 
the  boy-duke's  guardian.  They  meant  to  take  fast 
hold  of  Richard  now  that  he  had  come  back,  and  so 
the  barons  were  summoned,  and  when  Louis  ap- 
peared again  in  Normandy,  with  the  spirit  and 
gallantry  of  a  great  captain,  to  claim  the  guardian- 
ship and  to  establish  Christianity,  as  well  as  to 
avenge  the  murder  of  Longsword,  if  you  please  ! — 
he  found  a  huge  army  ready  to  meet  him. 

Nobody  can  understand  how  King  Louis  managed 
to  keep  such  a  splendid  army  as  his  in  good  condi- 
tion through  so  many  reverses.  He  had  lost  heavily 
from  his  lands  and  his  revenues,  and  there  were  no 
laws,  so  far  as  we  know,  that  compelled  military 
service,  but  the  ranks  were  always  full,  and  the 
golden  eagle  of  Charlemagne  was  borne  before  the 
king  on  the  march,  and  the  banner  of  that  great  em- 
peror, his  ancestor,  fluttered  above  his  pavilion  when 
the  army  halted.  As  for  the  Danes  (which  means 
simply  the  Northern  or  Pirate  party  of  Normandy), 
they  were  very  unostentatious  soldiers  and  fought 


76       THE    STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

on  foot,  going  to  meet  the  enemy  with  sword  and 
shield.  Some  of  them  had  different  emblems  on  their 
shields  now,  instead  of  the  old  red  and  white  stripes 
of  the  shields  that  used  to  be  hung  along  the  sides 
of  the  long-ships,  and  they  carried  curious  weapons, 
even  a  sort  of  flail  that  did  great  execution. 

We  must  pass  quickly  over  the  long  account  of  a 
feigned  alliance  between  Hugh  of  Paris  and  King 
Louis,  their  agreement  to  share  Normandy  be- 
tween themselves,  and  then  Hugh's  withdrawal,  and 
Bernard  of  Senlis's  deep-laid  plot  against  both  the 
enemies  of  Normand}-.  It  was  just  at  this  time  that 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  enmity  between  Normandy 
and  Brittany,  and  the  Normans  seem  to  be  in  a  more 
rebellious  and  quarrelsome  state  than  usual.  If 
there  was  one  thing  that  they  clung  to  every  one  of 
them,  and  would  not  let  go,  it  was  this  :  that  Nor- 
mandy should  not  be  divided,  that  it  should  be  kept 
as  Rolf  had  left  it.  Sooner  than  yield  to  the  plots 
and  attempted  grasping  and  divisions  of  Hugh  and 
Arnulf  of  Flanders,  and  Louis,  they  w'ould  send  to 
the  North  for  a  fleet  of  dragon  ships  and  conquer 
their  country  over  again.  They  knew  very  well  that 
however  bland  and  persuasive  their  neighbors  might 
become  Avhen  they  desired  to  have  a  truce,  they  al, 
ways  called  them  filthy  Normans  and  pirates  behind 
their  backs,  and  were  always  hoping  for  a  chance  to 
push  them  off  the  soil  of  Normandy.  There  was  no 
love  lost  between  the  dukedoms  and  the  kingdom. 

After  some  time  Louis  was  persuaded  again  that 
Normandy  desired  nothing  so  much  as  to  call  him 
her  feudal  lord  and  sovereign.    Bernard  de  Senlis  as- 


RICHARD   THE  FEARLESS. 


77 


sured  him,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  that  they 
were  no  longer  in  doubt  of  their  un- 
happiness  in  having  a  child  for  a  ruler, 
that  they  were  anxious  to  return  to 
the  old  pledge  of  loyalty  that  Rolf 
gave  to  the  successor  of  Charle- 
magne. He  must  be  the  over-lord 
again  and  must  come  and  occupy  his  humble 
city  of  Rouen.  They  were  tired  of  being  har- 
ried, their  land  was  desolated,  and  they  would 
do  any  thing  to  be  released  from  the  sorrows 
and  penalties  of  war.  Much  to  our  surprise, 
and  very  likely  to  his  own  astonishment  too,  we 
find  King  Louis  presently  going  to  Rouen,  and 
being  received  there  with  all  manner  of  civility 
and  deference.  Every- 
body hated  him  just  as 
much  as  ever,  and  dis- 
trusted him,  and  no 
doubt  Louis  returned 
the  compliment,  but  to 
outward  view  he  was  be- 
loved and  honored  by 
his  tributaries,  and  the 
Norman  city  seemed 
quiet  and  particularly 
servile  to  its  new  ruler 
and  his  bragging  troops. 
Nobody  understood  ex- 
actly why  they  had  Avon 
their  ends  with  so  little 

FLAIL   AS   A   MILITARY 

WEAPON  (i).  trouble,  and  everybody 


78  THE    STORY   OF    THE   NORMANS. 

was  on  the  watch  for  some  amazing  counterplot,  and 
dared  not  trust  either  friend  or  foe.  As  for  Louis, 
they  had  shamed  and  tormented  him  too  much  to 
make  him  a  very  afTectionate  sovereign  now.  To  be 
sure  he  ruled  over  Normandy  at  last,  but  that  brought 
him  perplexity  enough.  In  the  city  the  most  worth- 
less of  his  followers  was  putting  on  the  airs  of  a 
conqueror  and  aggravating  the  Norman  subjects  un- 
bearably. The  Frenchmen  who  had  followed  the 
golden  eagle  of  Charlemagne  so  long  without  any 
reward  but  glory  and  a  slender  subsistence,  began  to 
clamor  for  their  right  to  plunder  the  dukedom  and 
to  possess  themselves  of  a  reward  which  had  been 
too  long  withheld  already. 

Hugh,  of  Paris,  and  King  Louis  had  made  a  bold 
venture  together  for  the  conquest  of  Normandy, 
and  apparently  succeeded  to  their  heart's  content. 
Hugh  had  besieged  Bayeux  ;  and  the  country,  be- 
tween the  two  assailants,  had  suffered  terribly.  Ber- 
nard the  Dane,  or  Bernard  de  Senlis  either,  knew  no 
other  way  to  reestablish  themselves  than  by  keeping 
Louis  in  Rouen  and  cheating  him  by  a  show  of  com- 
plete submission.  The  Normans  must  have  had 
great  faith  in  the  Danish  Bernard  when  they  sub- 
mitted to  make  unconditional  surrender  to  Louis. 
Could  it  be  that  he  had  been  faithless  to  the  boy- 
duke's  rights,  and  allowed  him  to  be  contemptuously 
disinherited  ? 

Now  that  the  king  was  safely  bestowed  in  Rouen, 
his  new  liegemen  began  to  say  very  disagreeable 
things.  Louis  had  made  a  great  fool  of  himself  at  a 
banquet  soon  after  he  reached  Rolf's  tower  in  the 


RICHARD   THE  FEARLESS.  79 

Norman  city.  Bernard  the  Dane,  had  spread  a  fa- 
mous feast  for  him  and  brought  his  own  good  red 
wine.  Louis  became  very  talkative,  and  announced 
openly  that  he  was  going  to  be  master  of  the  Nor- 
mans at  last,  and  would  make  them  feel  his  bonds, 
and  shame  them  well.  But  Bernard  the  Dane  left 
his  own  seat  at  the  table  and  placed  himself  next  the 
king.  Presently  he  began,  in  most  ingenious  ways,  to 
taunt  him  with  having  left  himself  such  a  small 
share  of  the  lands  and  wealth  of  the,  ancient  province 
of  Neustria.  He  showed  him  that  Hugh  of  Paris 
had  made  the  best  of  the  bargain,  and  that  he  had 
given  up  a  great  deal  more  than  there  was  any  need 
of  doing.  Bernard  described  in  glowing  colors  the 
splendid  dominions  he  had  sacrificed  by  letting  his 
rival  step  in  and  take  first  choice.  Louis  had  not 
chosen  to  take  a  seventh  part  of  the  whole  duke- 
dom, and  Hugh  of  Paris  was  master  of  all  Nor- 
mandy beyond  the  Seine,  a  beautiful  country  watered 
by  fine  streams  whose  ports  were  fit  for  commerce 
and  ready  for  defence.  More  than  this  ;  he  had  let 
ten  thousand  fighting  men  slip  through  his  hands  and 
become  the  allies  of  his  worst  enemy.  And  so 
Bernard  and  his  colleagues  plainly  told  Louis  that  he 
had  made  a  great  mistake.  They  w^ould  consent  to 
receive  him  as  their  sovereign  and  guardian  of  the 
young  duke,  but  Normandy  must  not  be  divided  ;  to 
that  they  would  never  give  their  consent. 

Louis  listened,  half  dazed  to  these  suggestions, 
and  when  he  w^as  well  sobered  he  understood  that  he 
was  attacked  on  every  side.  Hugh  of  Paris  had  de- 
clared that  if  Louis  broke  faith  with  him  now  h- 


8o  THE   STORY  OF  THE  KORMANS. 

would  make  an  end  to  their  league,  and  Louis  knew 
that  he  would  be  making  a  fierce  enemy  if  he  lis- 
tened to  the  Normans;  yet  if  he  refused,  they 
would  turn  against  him. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  he' permitted  Hugh  to  keep 
his  new  territory,  lie  was  only  strengthening  a  man 
who  was  his  enemy  at  heart,  and  who  sooner  or  later 
would  show  his  antagonism.  Louis's  own  soldiers 
were  becoming  very  rebellious.  They  claimed  over 
and  over  again  that  Rolf  had  had  no  real  right  to 
the  Norman  lands,  but  since  he  had  divided  them 
among  his  followers,  all  the  more  reason  now  that 
the  conquerors,  the  French  owners  of  Normandy, 
should  be  put  into  possession  of  what  they  had  won 
back  again  at  last.  They  demanded  that  the  vectors 
should  enforce  their  right,  and  not  only  expressed  a 
wish  for  Bernard  the  Dane's  broad  lands,  but  for  his 
handsome  young  wife.  They  would  not  allow  that 
the  Normans  had  any  rights  at  all.  When  a  rumor 
of  such  wicked  plans  began  to  be  whispered  through 
Rouen  and  the  villages,  it  raised  a  great  excitement. 
There  would  have  been  an  insurrection  at  once,  if 
shrewd  old  Bernard  had  not  again  insisted  upon 
patience  and  submission.  His  wife  even  rebelled, 
and  said  that  she  would  bury  herself  in  a  convent: 
and  E:^riota,  young  Richard's  mother,  thriftily  re 
solved  to  provide  herself  with  a  protector,  and  mar- 
ried Sperling,  a  rich  miller  of  Vaudrcuil. 

Hugh  of  Paris  was  Bernard's  refuge  in  these 
troubles,  and  now  we  see  what  the  old  Dane  had 
been  planning  all  the  time.  Hugh  had  begun  to  be- 
lieve that  there  was  no  use  in  trying  to  hold  his  new 


RICHARD  THE  FEARLESS.  8 1 

possessions  of  Normandy  beyond  the  Seine,  and 
that  he  had  better  return  to  his  old  cordial  alliance 
with  the  Normans  and  uphold  Rolf  the  Ganger's 
dukedom.  So  the  Danish  party,  Christians  and  pa- 
gans, and  the  Normans  of  the  French  party,  and 
Hugh  of  Paris,  all  entered  into  a  magnificent  plot 
against  Louis.  The  Normans  might  have  been  con- 
tented with  expelling  the  intruders,  and  a  renuncia- 
tion of  the  rights  Louis  had  usurped,  but  Hugh  the 
Great  was  very  anxious  to  capture  Louis  himself. 

Besides  Hugh  of  Paris  and  the  Norman  barons 
who  upheld  the  cause  of  young  Richard,  there  was 
a  third  very  important  ally  in  the  great  rebellion 
against  King  Louis  of  France.  When  Gorm  a 
famous  old  king  of  Denmark  had  died  some  years 
before,  the  successor  to  his  throne  was  Harold 
Blaatand  or  Bluetooth,  a  man  of  uncommonly  fine 
character  'for  those  times^ — a  man  who  kept  his 
promises  and  was  noted  for  his  simplicity  and  good 
faith  and  loyalty  to  his  word.  Whatever  reason  may 
have  brought'  Harold  to  Normandy  at  this  time,  there 
he  was,  the  firm  friend  of  the  citizens  of  the  Bayeux 
country,  and  we  find  himu'ith  his  army  at  Cherbourg. 

All  Normandy  was  armed  and  ready  for  a  grand 
fight  with  the  French,  though  it  appears  that  at  first 
there  was  an  attempt  at  a  peaceful  conference.  This 
went  on  very  w'ell  at  first,  the  opposing  armies  being 
drawn  up  on  either  side  of  the  river  Dive,  when  who 
should  appear  but  Herluin  of  Montreuil,  the  insolent 
traitor  who  was  more  than  suspected  of  having 
caused  the  murder  of  W^illiam  Longsword.  Since 
then  he  had  ruled  in  Rouen  as  Louis's  deputy  and 


82  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

stirred  up  more  hatred  against  himself,  but  now  he 
took  a  prominent  place  in  the  French  ranks,  and 
neither  Normans  nor  Danes  could  keep  their  tempers 
any  longer.  So  the  peaceful  conference  was  abruptly 
ended,  and  the  fight  began. 

Every  thing  went  against  the  French  :  many  counts 
were  killed  ;  the  golden  eagle  of  Charlemagne  and  the 
silk  hangings  and  banners  of  the  king's  tent  had  only 
been  brought  for  the  good  of  these  Normans,  who 
captured  them.  As  for  the  king  himself,  lie  was 
taken  prisoner;  some  say  that  he  was  led  away  from 
the  battle-field  and  secreted  by  a  loyal  gentleman  of 
that  neighborhood,  who  hid  him  in  a  secluded 
bowery  island  in  the  river  near  by,  and  that  the  poor 
gentleman's  house  and  goods  were  burnt  and  his  wife 
and  children  seized,  before  he  would  tell  anything 
of  the  defeated  monarch's  hiding-place.  There  is 
another  story  that  Harold  Blaatand  and  Louis  met 
in  hand-to-hand  combat,  and  the  Dane  led  away  the 
Frank  as  the  prize  of  his  own  bravery.  The  king 
escaped  and  was  again  captured  and  imprisoned 
in  Rouen.  No  bragging  now  of  what  he  would  do 
with  the  Normans,  or  who  should  take  their  lands 
and  their  wives.  Poor  Louis  was  completely  beaten, 
but  there  Mas  still  a  high  spirit  in  the  man  and  in 
his  brave  wife  Gerberga,  who  seems  to  have  been  his 
equal  in  courage  and  resource.  After  a  while  Louis 
only  regained  his  freedom  by  giving  up  his  castle  of 
Laon  to  Hugh  of  Paris,  and  the  successor  of  Charle- 
magne was  reduced  to  the  pitiful  povert}-  of  being 
king  only  of  Compiegne.  Yet  he  was  still  king,  and 
nobody  was  more  ready  to  give  him  the  title    than 


RICHARD  THE  FEARLESS.  83 

Hugh  of  Paris  himself,  though  the  diplomatic  treach- 
eries went  on  as  usual. 

Harold  had  made  a  triumphant  progress  through 
Normandy  after  the  great  fight  was  over,  and  all  the 
people  were  very  grateful  to  him,  and  it  is  said  that 
he  reestablished  the  laws  of  Rolf,  and  confirmed  the 
authority  of  the  boy-duke.  We  cannot  understand 
very  well  at  this  distance  just  why  Harold  should 
have  been  in  Normandy  at  all  with  his  army  to  make 
himself  so  useful,  but  there  he  was,  and  unless  one 
story  is  only  a  repetition  of  the  other,  he  came  back 
again,  twenty  years  after,  in  the  same  good-natured 
way,  and  fought  for  the  Normans  again. 

Poor  Louis  certainly  had  a  very  hard  time,  and 
for  awhile  his  pride  was  utterly  broken  ;  but  he  was 
still  young  and  hoped  to  retrieve  his  unlucky  for- 
tunes. Richard,  the  young  duke,  was  only  thirteen 
years  old  when  Normandy  broke  faith  with  France, 
He  had  not  yet  earned  his  title  of  the  Fearless, 
which  has  gone  far  toward  making  him  one  of  the 
heroes  of  history,  and  was  waiting  to  begin  his  real 
work  and  influence  in  the  dukedom.  Louis  had 
sympathy  enough  of  a  profitless  sort  from  his  Ger- 
man and  English  neighbors.  England  sent  an  em- 
bassy to  demand  his  release,  and  Hugh  of  Paris 
refused  most  ungraciously.  Later,  the  king  of  the 
Germans  or  East  Franks  determined  to  invade 
Hugh's  territory,  and  would  not  even  send  a  message 
or  have  any  dealings  with  him  first ;  and  when  he 
found  that  the  German  army  was  really  assembling, 
the  Count  of  Paris  yielded.  But,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  Louis  had  to  give  up  a  great  piece  of  his  king- 


84       THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

dom.  As  far  as  words  went,  he  was  king  again.  He 
had  lost  his  authority  while  he  was  in  prison,  but  it 
was  renewed  with  proper  solemnity,  and  Hugh  was 
again  faithful  liegeman  and  homager  of  his  former 
prisoner.  The  other  princes  of  Europe,  at  least  those 
who  were  neighbors,  followed  Hugh's  example — all 
except  one,  if  we  may  believe  the  Norman  historians. 
On  the  banks  of  the  Epte,  where  Rolf  had  first  done 
homage  to  the  French  king,  the  Norman  duchy  was 
now  set  free  from  any  over-lordship,  and  made  an  in- 
dependent country.  The  duke  was  still  called  duke, 
and  not  king,  yet  he  was  completely  the  monarch  of 
Normandy,  and  need  give  no  tribute  nor  obedience. 

Before  long,  however,  Richard,  or  his  barons  for 
him — wily  Bernard  the  Dane,  and  Bernard  de 
Senlis,  and  the  rest — commended  the  lands  and  men 
of  Normandy  to  the  Count  of  Paris,  benefactor  and 
ally.  The  Norman  historians  do  not  say  much  about 
this,  for  they  were  not  so  proud  of  it  as  of  their 
being  made  free  from  the  rule  of  France.  We  are 
certain  that  the  Norman  soldiers  followed  Hugh  in 
his  campaigns,  for  long  after  this  during  the  reign  of 
Richard  the  Fearless  there  were  some  charters  and 
state  papers  written  which  are  still  preserved,  and 
which  speak  of  Hugh  of  Paris  as  Richard's  over-lord. 

There  are  so  few  relics  of  that  time  that  we 
must  note  the  coinage  of  the  first  Norman  money  in 
Richard's  reign.  The  chronicles  follow  the  old 
fashion  of  the  sagas  in  sounding  the  praises  of  one 
■man — sometimes  according  to  him  all  the  deeds  of 
his  ancestors  besides  ;  but,  unfortunately,  they  refer 
little  to  general  history,  and  tell  few  things  about  tht 


klCHARD   THE  FEARLESS.  %% 

people.  We  find  Normandy  and  England  coming 
into  closer  relations  in  this  reign,  and  the  first  men- 
tion of  the  English  kings  and  of  affairs  across  the 
Channel,  lends  a  new  interest  to  our  story  of  the 
Normans.  Indeed,  to  every  Englishman  and  Ameri- 
can the  roots  and  beginnings  of  English  history  are 
less  interesting -in  themselves  than  for  their  hints  and 
explanations  of  later  chapters  and  events. 

Bef6re  we  end  this  account  of  Duke  Richard's 
boyhood,  we  must  take  a  look  at  one  appealing  frag- 
ment of  it  which  has  been  passed  by  in  the  story  of 
the  wars  and  tumults  and  strife  of  parties.  Once 
King  Louis  was  offered  his  liberty  on  the  condition 
that  he  would  allow  the  Normans  to  take  his  son 
and  heir  Lothair  as  pledge  of  his  return  and  good 
behavior.  No  doubt  the  French  king  and  Queen 
Gerberga  had  a  consciousness  that  they  had  not  been 
very  kind  to  Richard,  and  so  feared  actual  retalia- 
tion. But  Gerberga  offered,  not  the  heir  to  the 
throne,  but  her  younger  child  Carloman,  a  puny, 
weak  little  boy,  and  he  was  taken  as  hostage  instead, 
and  soon  died  in  Rouen.  Miss  Yonge  has  written  a 
charming  story  called  "  The  Little  Duke,"  in  which 
she  draws  a  touching  picture  of  this  sad  little  exile. 
It  makes  Queen  Gerberga  appear  very  hard  and 
cruel,  and  it  seems  as  if  she  must  have  been  to  let  the 
poor  child  go  among  his  enemies.  We  must  remem- 
ber, though,  that  these  times  were  very  hard,  and 
one  cannot  help  respecting  the  poor  queen,  who  was 
very  brave  after  all,  and  fought  as  gallantly  as  any 
one  to  keep  her  besieged  and  struggling  kingdom 
out  of  the  hands  of  its  assailants. 


86  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NOR  Af A  .VS. 

We  must  pass  over  the  long  list  of  petty  wars  be- 
tween Louis  and  Hugh.  Richard's  reign  was  stormy 
to  begin  with,  but  for  some  years  before  his  death 
Normandy  appears  to  have  been  tolerably  quiet. 
Louis  had  seen  his  darkest  times  when  Normandy 
shobk  herself  free  from  French  rule,  and  from  that 
hour  his  fortunes  bettered.  There  was  one  disagree- 
ment between  Otto  of  Germany  and  Louis,  aided  by 
the  king  of  Burgundy,  against  the  two  dukes,  Hugh 
and  Richard,  and  before  Louis  died  he  won  back 
again  the  greater  part  of  his  possessions  at  Laon. 
Duke  Hugh's  glories  were  somewhat  eclipsed  for  a 
time,  and  he  was  excommunicated  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Rheims  and  took  no  notice  of  that,  but  by  and  by 
when  the  Pope  of  Rome  himself  put  him  under  a 
ban,  he  came  to  terms.  The  Normans  were  his 
constant  allies,  but  there  is  not  much  to  learn  about 
their  own  military  enterprises.  The  enthusiastic 
Norman  writers  give  a  glowing  account  of  the  failure 
of  the  confederate  kings  to  capture  Rouen,  but  say 
less  about  their  marauding  tour  through  the  duchies 
of  Normandy  and  Hugh's  dominions.  Rouen  was  a 
powerful  city  by  this  time,  and  a  famous  history  be- 
longed to  her  already.  There  are  some  fragments 
left  still  of  the  Rouen  of  that  day,  which  is  very 
surprising  when  we  remember  how  battered  and 
beleaguered  the  old  town  was  through  century  after 
century. 

Every  thing  was  apparently  prospering  with  the 
king  of  France  when  he  suddenly  died,  only  thirty- 
three  years  of  age,  in  spite  of  his  tempestuous  reigp^ 
and  always  changing  career.    He  must  have  felt  like  a 


RICHARD    THE  FEARLESS. 


87 


very  old  man,  one  would  think,  and  somehow  one 
imagines  him  and  Gerberga,  his  wife,  as  old  people 
in  their  Castle  of  Laon.  Lothair  was  the  next  king, 
and  Richard,  who  so  lately  was  a  child  too,  became 
the  elder  ruler  of  his  time.      Hug^h  of  Paris  died  two 


ABBEY    CHURCH    OF    ST.    OUEN    (KUUEN). 


years  later,  and  the  old  enemy  of  Normandy,  Arnulf 
of  Flanders,  soon  followed  him.  The  king  of  Ger- 
man}-, Otto,  outlived  all  these,  but  Richard  lived 
longer  than  he  or  his  son. 


88  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

The  duchy  of  France,  Hugh's  dominion,  passed 
to  his  young  son,  Hugh  Capet,  a  boy  of  thirteen. 
When  this  Hugh  grew  up  he  did  homage  to  Lothair, 
but  Richard  gave  his  loyalty  to  Hugh  of  Paris's  son. 
The  wars  went  on,  and  before  many  years  went  over 
Hugh  Capet  extinguished  the  succession  of  Charle- 
magne's heirs  to  the  throne  of  France,  and  was 
crowned  king  himself,  so  beginning  the  reign  of 
France  proper  ;  as  powerful  and  renowned  a  kingdom 
as  Europe  saw  through  many  generations.  By 
throwing  off  the  rule  of  German  princes,  and  achiev- 
ing independence  of  the  former  French  dynasty, 
an  order  of  things  began  that  was  not  overthrown 
until  our  own  day.  Little  by  little  the  French 
crown  annexed  the  dominions  of  all  its  vassals,  even 
the  duchy  of  Normandy,  but  that  was  not  to  be  for 
many  years  yet.  I  hope  we  have  succeeded  in 
getting  at  least  a  hint  of  the  history  of  France  from 
the  time  it  was  the  Gaul  of  the  Roman  empire  ; 
and  the  empire  of  Charlemagne,  and  later,  of  the  frag- 
ments of  that  empire,  each  a  province  or  kingdom 
under  a  ruler  of  its  own,  which  were  reunited  in  one 
confederation  under  one  king  of  France.  All  this 
time  Europe  is  under  the  religious  rule  of  Rome,  and 
in  Richard  the  Fearless's  later  years  we  find  him  the 
benefactor  of  the  Church,  living  close  by  the  Minster 
of  Fecamp  and  buried  in  its  shadow  at  last.  There 
was  a  deep  stone  chest  which  was  placed  by  Duke 
Richard's  order  near  one  of  the  minster  doors,  where 
the  rain  might  fall  upon  it  that  dropped  from  the 
holy  roof  above.  For  many  )'ears,  on  Saturda}- 
evenings,    the    chest    was    filled    to    the    brim    with 


RICHARD   THE  FEARLESS.  89 

wheat,  a  luxury  in  those  days,  and  the  poor  came 
and  filled  their  measures  and  held  out  their  hands 
afterward  for  five  shining  pennies,  while  the  lame 
and  sick  people  were  visited  in  their  homes  by  the 
almoner  of  the  great  church.  There  was  much  talk 
about  this  hollowed  block  of  stone,  but  when  Richard 
died  in  996  at  the  end  of  his  fifty-five  years'  reign, 
after  a  long,  lingering  illness,  his  last  command  was 
that  he  should  be  buried  in  the  chest  and  lie  "  there 
where  the  foot  should  tread,  and  the  dew  and  the 
waters  of  heaven  should  fall."  Beside  this  church 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  at  Fecamp  he  built  the  abbey  of 
St.  Wandville,  the  Rouen  cathedral,  and  the  great 
church  of  the  Benedictines  at  St.  Ouen.  New  struc- 
tures have  risen  upon  the  old  foundations,  but 
Richard's  name  is  still  connected  with  the  places  of 
worship  that  he  cared  for. 

"  Richard  Sans-peur  has  long  been  our  favorite 
hero,"  says  Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  who  has  written 
perhaps  the  fullest  account  of  the  Third  Duke  ;  "  we 
have  admired  the  fine  boy,  nursed  on  his  father's 
knee  whilst  the  three  old  Danish  warriors  knelt  and 
rendered  their  fealty.  During  Richard's  youth, 
adolescence,  and  age  our  interest  in  his  varied, 
active,  energetic  character  has  never  flagged,  and  we 
go  with  him  in  court  and  camp  till  the  day  of  his 
death." 


V. 


DUKE   RICHARD   THE   GOOD. 

"  Then  would  he  sing  achievements  high 
And  circumstance  of  chivalry." — ScOTT. 


Richard  the  Fearless  had  several  sons,  and 
when  he  lay  dying  his  nobles  asked  him  to  say  who 
should  be  his  successor.  "  He  who  bears  my  name," 
whispered  the  old  duke,  and  added  a  moment  later  : 
"  Let  the  others  take  the  oaths  of  fealty,  acknowl- 
ledge  Richard  as  their  superior  ;  and  put  their  hands 
in  his,  and  receive  from  him  those  lands  which  I 
will  name  to  you." 

So  Richard  the  Good  came  to  his  dukedom,  with 
a  rich  inheritance  in  every  way  from  the  father  who 
had  reigned  so  successfully,  and  his  brothers  Geoffry, 
Mauger,  William,  and  Robert,  accepted  their  por- 
tions of  the  dukedom,  to  which  Richard  added  more 
lands  of  his  own  accord. 

During  this  reign  there  were  many  changes,  some 
very  gradual  and  natural  ones,  for  Normandy  was 
growing  more  French  and  less  Scandinavian  all  the 
time,  and  the  relationship  grew  stronger  and  stronger 
between  vigorous  young  Normandy  and  troubled, 
failing   England.     Later  we  shall  see  how  our  Nor- 

90 


DUKE  RICHARD  THE  GOOD,  91 

mans  gave  a  new  impulse  to  England,  but  alread} 
there  are  signs  and  forebodings  of  what  must  ccn-e 
to  pass  in  the  days  of  Richard  the  Good's  grandson, 
WilHam  the  Conqueror. 

We  first  hear  now  of  many  names  which  are  great 
names  in  Normandy  and  England  to  this  day.  "  It 
seems  as  if  there  were  never  any  region  more 
peopled  with  men  of  known  deeds,  known  names, 
known  passions  and  known  crimes,"  says  Palgrave; 
and  the  Norman  annals  abound  with  historical  titles 
"rendered  illustrious  by  the  illusions  of  time  and 
blazonry  which  imagination  imparts."  It  is  very 
strange  how  few  records  there  are,  among  the 
state  papers  in  France,  of  all  this  period.  Ever)'- 
important  public  matter  in  England  was  carefully 
recorded  long  before  this,  but  with  all  the  proverbial 
love  of  going  to  law,  and  all  the  well-ordered  priest- 
hood, and  good  education  of  the  upper  classes,  there 
are  only  a  few  scattered  charters  until  Normandy  is 
really  merged  in  France.  This  almost  corresponds 
to  the  absence,  in  the  literary  world,  of  papers 
relating  to  Shakespeare,  which  is  such  a  puzzle 
to  antiquarians.  Here  was  a  man  well-known  and 
beloved  both  in  his  native  village  and  the  world  of 
London,  a  man  who  must  have  covered  thousands 
of  pages  with  writing,  and  written  letters  and  signed 
his  name  times  without  number,  and  yet  not  one  of 
his  manuscripts  and  very  few  signatures  can  be  found. 
Only  the  references  to  him  in  contemporary  litera- 
ture remain  to  give  us  any  facts  at  all  about  the 
greatest  of  English  writers.  Of  far  less  noteworthy 
men,  of  his  time  and  before  that,  we  can   make  up 


92  THE    STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

reasonably  full  biographies.  And  Normandy  is 
known  only  through  the  records  of  other  nations, 
and  the  traditions  and  reports  of  romancing  chroni- 
clers. There  are  no  long  lists  of  men  and  money,  and 
no  treasurer  or  general  of  Rolf's,  or  Longsword's 
time  has  left  us  his  accounts.  Rolf's  brother,  who 
went  to  Iceland  while  Rolf  came  to  Normandy, 
in  the  tyrannical  reign  of  Harold  Haarfager,  estab- 
lished in  that  storm-bound  little  country  a  nation 
of  scholars  and  record-makers.  Perhaps  it  was  easier 
to  write  there  where  the  only  enemies  were  ice  and 
snow  and  darkness  and  the  fury  of  the  sea  and  wind. 

Yet  we  can  guess  at  a  great  deal  about  the  condi- 
tion of  Normandy.  There  was  so  much  going  to 
and  fro,  such  a  lively  commerce  and  transportation 
of  goods,  that  we  know  the  old  Roman  roads  had 
been  kept  in  good  repair,  and  that  many  others  must 
have  been  built  as  the  population  increased.  The 
famous  fairs  which  were  held  make  us  certain  that 
there  was  a  large  business  carried  on,  and  besides  the 
maintenance  and  constant  use  of  a  large  army,  in 
some  years  there  was  also  a  thrifty  devotion  to  mer- 
cantile matters  and  agriculture.  Foreign  artisans 
and  manufacturers  were  welcomed  to  the  Norman 
provinces,  and  soon  formed  busy  communities  like 
the  Flemish  craftsmen,  weavers  and  leather-makers, 
at  Falaise.  The  Normans  had  an  instinctive  liking 
for  pomp  and  splendor ;  so  their  tradesmen  flourished, 
and  their  houses  became  more  and  more  elegant, 
and  must  be  carved  and  gilded  like  the  dragon  ships. 

A  merry,  liberal  duke  was  this  Richard  ;  fond  of 
his  court,  and  always  ready  to   uphold  Normandy's 


DUKE  RICHARD   THE  GOOD.  93 

honor  and  his  own  when  there  was  any  fighting  to 
be  done.  He  had  a  great  regard  for  his  nobles,  and  we 
begin  to  find  a  great  deal  said  about  gentlemen  ;  the 
duke  would  have  only  gentlemen  for  his  chosen  fol- 
lowers, and  the  aristocrats  make  themselves  felt 
more  distinctly  than  before.  The  rule  of  the  best  is 
a  hard  thing  to  manage,  it  sinks  already  into  a  rule 
of  the  lucky,  the  pushing,  or  the  favored  in  the  Rouen 
court.  The  power  and  reign  of  chivalry  begins  to 
blossom  now  far  and  wide. 

We  begin  to  hear  rumors  too  on  the  other  side 
that  there  were  wrong  distinctions  between  man  and 
man,  and  tyranny  that  grew  hard  to  bear,  and  one 
Norman  resents  the  truth  that  his  neighbor  is  a 
better  and  richer  man  than  he,  and  moreover  has  the 
right  to  make  him  a  servant,  and  to  make  laws  for 
him.  The  Norman  citizens  were  equal  in  civil  rights 
— that  is  to  say,  they  were  not  taxed  without  their 
own  consent,  need  pay  no  tolls,  and  might  hunt  and 
fish  ;  all  could  do  these  things  except  the  villeins*  and 
peasants,  who  really  composed  the  mass  of  the  native 
population,  the  descendants  of  those  who  lived  in 
Normandy  before  Rolf  came  there.  Even  the 
higher  clergy  did  not  form  part  of  the  nobility  and 
gentry  at  first,  and  in  later  years  there  was  still  a 
difference  in  rank  and  privileges  between  the  priests 
of  Norwegian  and  Danish  race  and  the  other  eccle- 
siastics. 

Before  Richard  the  Good  had  been  long  on  his 
throne  there  was  a  great  revolt  and  uprising  of  the 
peasantry,  who  evidently  did  not  think  that  their  new 
*  Farm  laborers  ;  countrymen. 


94  THE   STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

duke  deserved  his  surname  at  all.  These  people 
conceived  the  idea  of  destroying  the  inequality  of 
races,  so  that  Normandy  should  hold  only  one  na- 
tion, as  it  already  held  one  name.  We  cannot  help 
being  surprised  at  the  caieful  political  organization 
of  the  peasantr}/-,  and  at  finding  that  they  established 
a^  regujar_parliament  withjbwo  rencesentatives  from 
every  district.  In  all  the  villages  and  hamlets,  after 
the  day's  work  was  over,  they  came  together  to  talk 
over  their  wrongs  or  to  listen  to  some  speaker  more 
eloquent  than  his  fellows.  They  "  made  a  commune," 
which  anticipates  later  events  in  the  history  of  France 
in  a  surprising  way.  Freeman  says  that  "  such  a  con- 
stitution could  hardly  have  been  extemporized  by 
mere  peasants,"  and  believes  that  the  disturbance  was 
founded  in  a  loyalty  to  the  local  customs  and  rights 
which  were  fast  being  trampled  under  foot,  and  that 
the  rebels  were  only  tr}-ing  to  defend  their  time- 
honored  inheritance.  The  liberty  which  they  were 
eager  to  grasp  might  have  been  a  great  good, 
scattered  as  it  would  have  been  over  a  great  extent 
of  countiy,  instead  of  being  won  by  separate  cities. 
The  ancient  Norman  constitutions  of  the  Channel 
Islands,  Jersey  and  Guernsey  and  the  rest,  antiquated 
as  they  seem,  breathe  to-day  a  spirit  of  freedom 
worthy  of  the  air  of  England  or  Switzerland  or  Nor- 
way. 

The  peasants  clamored  for  their  right  to  be  equal 
with  their  neighbors,  and  no  doubt  many  a  small  land- 
holder joined  thcni,  \\\\o  did  not  wish  to  swear  fealty 
to  his  over-lord.  In  the  Roman  dc  Ron,  an  old  chron- 
icle which  keeps  together  many  traditions  about  early 


DUKE  RICHARD  THE  GOOD.  95 

Normandy  that  else  might  have  been  forgotten,  we 
find  one  of  these  piteous  harangues.  Perhaps  it  is 
not  authentic,  but  it  gives  the  spirit  of  the  times  so 
well  that  it  ought  to  have  a  place  here : 

"  The  lords  do  nothing  but  evil ;  we  cannot  obtain 
either  reason  or  justice  from  them  ;  they  have  all, 
they  take  all,  eat  all,  and  make  us  live  in  poverty  and 
suffering.  Every  day  with  us  is  a  day  of  pain  ;  we 
gain  nought  by  our  labors,  there  are  so  many  dues 
and  services.  Why  do  we  allow  ourselves  to  be  thus 
treated  ?  Let  us  place  ourselves  beyond  their  power ; 
we  too  are  men,  we  have  the  same  limbs,  the  same 
height,  the  same  power  of  endurance,  and  we  are  a 
hundred  to  one.  Let  us  swear  to  defend  each  other  ; 
let  us  be  firmly  knit  together,  and  no  man  shall  be 
lord  over  us  ;  we  shall  be  free  from  tolls  and  taxes, 
free  to  fell  trees,  to  take  game  and  fish,  and  do  as 
we  will  in  all  things,  in  the  wood,  in  the  meadow,  on 
the  water!  " 

At  this  time  the  larger  po^'tion  of  Normandy  was 
what  used  to  be  called  forest.  That  word  meant 
something  more  than  woodland  ;  it  belonged  then 
to  tracts  of  wild  country,  woodland  and  moorland 
and  marshes,  and  these  were  the  possession  of  the 
crown.  The  peasants  had  in  the  old  days  a  right,  or 
a  custom  at  any  rate,  of  behaving  as  if  the  forests 
were  their  own,  but  more  and  more  they  had  been 
restricted,  and  the  unaccustomed  yoke  galled  them 
bitterly.  Besides  their  being  forbidden  to  hunt  and 
fish  in  the  forests,  the  water-ways  were  closed  from 
them,  taxes  imposed,  and  their  time  and  labor  de- 
manded on  the  duke's  lands.     There  had  been  grants 


96  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORhfANS. 

of  these  free  tracts  of  country  to  the  new  nobiHty, 
and  with  the  hinds  the  new  lords  claimed  also  the 
service  of  the  peasantry. 

The  people  do  not  appear  to  have  risen  against 
the  duke  himself,  so  much  as  against  their  immedi- 
ate oppressors,  and  it  was  one  of  these  who  was  to 
be  their  punisher.  You  remember  that  Richard  the 
Fearless'  mother,  Espriota,  married,  in  the  troublous 
times  of  his  boyhood,  a  rich  countryman  called 
Sperling.  They  had  a  son  called  Raoul  of  Ivry, 
who  seems  to  have  been  high  in  power  and  favor 
with  the  second  Richard,  his  half-brother,  and  who 
now  entered  upon  his  cruel  task  with  evident  liking. 
He  had  been  brought  up  among  the  country-folk, 
although  he  stood  at  this  time  next  to  the  duke  in 
office. 

He  was  very  crafty,  and  sent  spies  all  through 
Normandy  to  find  out  when  the  Assembly  or  Parlia- 
ment was  to  be  held,  and  then  dispersed  his  troops 
according  to  the  spies'  report,  and  seized  upon  all  the 
deputies  and  these  peasants  who  were  giving  oaths  of 
allegiance  to  their  new  commanders.  Whether  from 
design  or  from  anger  and  prejudice  Raoul  next  treated 
his  poor  prisoners  with  terrible  cruelty.  He  maimed 
them  in  every  way,  putting  out  their  eyes,  cutting 
off  their  hands  or  feet ;  he  impaled  them  alive,  and 
tortured  them  with  melted  lead.  Those  who  lived 
through  their  sufferings  were  sent  home  to  be  pa- 
raded through  the  streets  as  a  warning.  So  fear 
prevailed  over  even  the  love  of  liberty  in  their  brave 
hearts,  for  the  association  of  Norman  peasants  was 
broken  up,  and  a  sad  resignation  took  the  place,  for 


DUKE  RICHARD  THE  GOOD.  97 

hundreds  of  years,  of  the  ardor  and  courage  which 
had  been  lighted  only  to  go  out  again  so  quickly. 

There  was  another  rebellion  besides  this,  of  which 
we  have  some  account,  and  one  man  instead  of  a 
whole  class  was  the  ofTender.  One  of  Richard's 
brothers,  or  half-brothers,  the  son  of  an  unknown 
mother,  had  received  as  his  inheritance  the  county 
of  Exmes,  which  held  three  very  rich  and  thriving 
towns.  These  were  Exmes,  Argentan,  and  Falaise 
in  which  we  have  already  learned  that  there  was  a 
colony  of  Flemings  settled,  skilful,  industrious 
weavers  and  leather-makers  and  workers  in  cloth 
and  metals.  Falaise  itself  was  already  very  old 
indeed,  and  there  remain  yet  the  ruins  of  an  old 
Roman  camp,  claimed  to  belong  to  the  time  of 
Julius  Caesar,  beside  the  earliest  specimen  of  that 
square  gray  tower  which  is  really  of  earlier  date 
though  always  associated  with  Norman  feudalism. 
The  Falaise  Fair,  which  was  of  such  renown  in  the 
days  of  the  first  dukes,  is  supposed  to  be  the  sur- 
vival of  some  pagan  festival  of  vast  antiquity.  The 
name  of  Guibray,  the  suburb  of  Falaise  which  gave 
its  name  to  the  Fair,  is  said  to  be  derived  from  the 
Gaulish  word  for  mistletoe,  and  wherever  we  hear  of 
mistletoe  in  ancient  history  it  reminds  us,  not  of 
merry-makings  and  Christmas  holidays,  but  of  the 
grim  rites  and  customs  of  the  Druids. 

William,  Duke  Richard's  brother,  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  grateful  for  these  rich  possessions,  and 
before  long  there  is  a  complaint  that  he  fails  to  re- 
spond to  the  royal  summons,  and  that  he  will  not 
render  service  or  do  homage  in  return   for  his  hold- 


98  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

ing.  Raoul  of  Ivry  promptly  counselled  the  Duke 
to  take  arms  against  the  offender. 

It  was  not  long  before  William  found  himself  a 
prisoner  in  the  old  tower  of  Rolf  at  Rouen.  He 
was  treated  with  great  severity,  and  only  avoided 
being  hanged  by  making  his  escape  in  most  romantic 
fashion.  A  compassionate  lady  contrived  to  supply 
him  with  a  rope,  and  he  came  down  from  his  high 
tower-window  to  the  ground  hand  over  hand.  Lucki- 
ly he  found  none  of  his  keepers  waiting  for  him,  and 
succeeded  in  getting  out  of  the  country.  Raoul  had 
been  hunting  his  partisans,  and  now  he  had  the 
pleasure  of  hunting  William  himself,  by  keeping 
spies  on  his  track  and  forcing  him  from  one  danger 
to  another  until  he  was  tired  of  his  life,  and  boldly 
determined  to  go  to  his  brother  the  Duke  and  beg 
for  mercy.  He  was  very  fortunate,  for  Richard  not 
only  listened  to  him,  and  was  not  angry  at  being 
stopped  on  a  day  when  he  had  gone  out  to  amuse 
himself  with  hunting,  but  he  pardoned  the  suppliant 
and  pitied  his  trials  and  sufferings,  and  more  than 
all,  though  he  did  not  give  back  the  forfeited  county 
of  Exmes,  he  did  give  him  the  county  of  Eu.  We 
hear  nothing  of  what  Raoul  thought  of  such  a 
pleasant  ending  to  the  troubles  after  he  had  shown 
such  zeal  himself  in  pursuing  and  harassing  the 
Duke's  enemy. 

We  must  take  a  quick  look  at  the  relations  be- 
tween Richard  the  Good  and  Hugh  Capet,  Hugh  of 
Paris's  successor,  and  Robert  of  France,  Hugh  Ca- 
pet's son,  who  was  trying  to  uphold  the  fading  dig- 
nities and  power  of  the  Carlovingian  throne.     Truly 


DUKE  RICHARD   THE  GOOD.  99 

Charlemagne's  glories  were  almost  spent,  and  the 
new  glories  of  the  great  house  of  the  Capets  were 
growing  brighter  and  brighter.  Our  eyes  already 
turn  toward  England  and  the  part  that  the  Norman 
dukes  must  soon  play  there,  but  there  is  something 
to  say  first  about  France. 

Robert  and  Richard  were  great  friends ;  they  had 
many  common  interests,  and  were  bound  by  solemn 
oaths  and  formal  covenants  of  loyalty  toward  and 
protection  of  each  other.  Robert  was  a  very  honor- 
able man ;  his  relation  to  his  father  was  a  most 
curious  one,  for  they  seem  to  have  been  partners  in 
royalty  and  to  have  reigned  together  over  France. 
Richard  the  Fearless  had  done  much  to  establish  the 
throne  of  the  Capets,  and  there  was  a  firm  bond  be- 
tween the  second  Richard  and  young  Robert,  to 
whom  he  did  homage.  There  were  several  powerful 
chiefs  and  tributaries,  but  Richard  the  Good  out- 
ranks them  all,  and  takes  his  place  without  question 
as  the  first  peer  of  France.  The  golden  lilies  of 
France  are  already  in  flower,  and  though  history  is 
almost  silent  through  the  later  years  of  Hugh  Capet's 
life,  there  are  signs  of  great  activity  within  the  king- 
dom and  of  growing  prosperity.  There  is  an  old 
proverb :  "  Happy  is  that  nation  which  has  no  his- 
tory!" and  whenever  we  come  to  a  time  that  the 
historians  pass  over  or  describe  in  a  few  sentences, 
we  take  a  long  breath  and  imagine  the  people  busy 
in  their  homes  and  fields  and  shops,  blest  in  the 
freedom  from  war  and  disorder. 

Robert  of  France  was  a  famous  wit  and  liked  to 
play  tricks  upon  his  associates.     He  was  a  poet  too, 


lOO  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

and  wrote  some  beautiful  Latin  rhymes  which  are 
still  sung  in  the  churches.  There  is  a  good  story 
about  his  being  at  Rome  once  at  a  solemn  church 
festival.  When  he  approached  the  altar  he  held  a 
chalice  in  his  hands  with  great  reverence,  and  every- 
body could  see  that  it  held  a  roll  of  parchment. 

There  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  king  meant  to 
bestow  a  splendid  gift  upon  the  church,  perhaps, 
a  duchy  or  even  his  whole  kingdom ;  but  after  the 
service  was  over,  and  the  pope  and  cardinals,  full  of 
expectation,  hurried  to  see  what  prize  was  put  into 
their  keeping,  behold !  only  a  copy  of  Robert's 
famous  chant  "  Cornelius  Cetiturio  !  "  It  was  a  sad 
disappointment  indeed  when  they  looked  at  this 
unexpected  offering  ! 

But  Robert  was  more  than  a  good  comrade,  he 
was  a  remarkably  good  king,  as  kings  went ;  he  kept 
order  and  was  brave,  decided,  and  careful.  It  was 
true  that  he  had  fallen  heir  to  a  prosperous  and  well- 
governed  kingdom,  but  it  takes  constant  effort  and 
watchfulness  and  ready  strength  to  keep  a  kingdom 
or  any  lesser  responsibilities  up  to  the  right  level. 
He  had  one  great  trial,  for  his  wife  Bertha,  being  his 
first  cousin,  should  not  have  been  his  wife  according 
to  the  laws  of  the  Roman  Church.  For  the  first  time 
there  was  a  pope  of  Rome  who  was  from  beyond  the 
Alps,  a  German  ;  and  Robert  and  he  were  on  bad 
terms,  which  resulted  in  the  excommunication  of  the 
king  of  France  and  the  queen,  and  at  one  time  they 
were  put  so  completely  under  the  ban  that  even 
their  servants  forsook  them  and  the  whole  kingdom 
was  thrown  into  confusion.     The  misery  became  so 


DUKE  RICHARD   THE   GOOD.  101 

great  that  the  poor  queen  presently  had  to  be  sep- 
arted  from  her  husband,  and  this  was  the  more 
grievous  as  she  had  no  children,  and  so  Robert  was 
obliged  to  put  her  away  from  him  and  marry  again 
for  the  sake  of  having  an  heir  to  the  throne.  Bertha's 
successor  was  very  handsome,  but  very  cross,  and  in 
later  years  King  Robert  used  to  say  :  "  There  are 
plenty  of  chickens  in  the  nest,  but  my  old  hen  pecks 
at  me!  " 

In  spite  of  the  new  queen's  bad  temper  there 
are  a  good  many  things  to  be  said  in  her  praise. 
She  was  much  better  educated  than  most  women  of 
her  day,  and  she  had  a  great  admiration  for  Robert's 
poetry,  and  these  things  must  have  gone  far  to  make 
up  for  her  faults. 

Duke  Richard's  marriage  was  a  very  fortunate 
one.  His  sister  Hawisa,  of  whom  he  was  guardian, 
was  asked  in  marriage  by  Duke  Godfrey  of  Brittany, 
and  this  was  a  very  welcome  alliance,  since  it  bound 
the  two  countries  closer  together  than  ever  before, 
and  made  them  forget  the  rivalries  which  had  some- 
times caused  serious  trouble.  Especially  this  was 
true  when  a  little  later  Richard  himself  married 
Godfrey's  sister  Judith,  who  was  distinguished  for 
her  wisdom.  They  had  a  most  splendid  wedding  at 
the  Abbey  of  St.  Michael's  Mount,  and  in  course  of 
time  one  of  their  daughters  married  the  Count  of 
Burgundy  and  one  the  Count  of  Flanders. 

In  spite  of  much  immorality  and  irregularity  in 
those  days,  there  was  enough  that  was  proper  and 
respectable  in  the  alliances  of  the  noble  families, 
and  we  catch  many  a  glimpse  of  faithful  lovers  and 


I02  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

gallant  love-making.  It  was  often  said  that  Nor- 
mandy's daughters  did  as  much  for  the  well-being  of 
the  country  as  her  sons,  and  when  we  read  the  lists 
of  grand  marriages  we  can  understand  that  the 
dukes'  daughters  won  as  many  provinces  by  their 
beauty  as  the  sons  did  by  their  bravery  in  war. 

It  is  hard  to  keep  the  fortunes  of  all  these  races 
and  kingdoms  clear  in  our  minds.  We  cannot  help 
thinking  of  England,  and  looking  at  all  this  early  his- 
tory of  the  Normans  and  their  growth  in  relation  to 
it.  Then  we  must  keep  track  of  the  Danes  and 
Northmen,  who  have  by  no  means  outgrown  their 
old  traits  and  manners,  though  their  cousins  in  Nor- 
mandy have  given  up  privateering  and  the  long  ships. 
The  history  of  France  makes  a  sort  of  background 
for  Normandy  and  England  both. 

These  marriages  of  which  I  have  just  told  you 
greatly  increased  the  magnificence  and  the  power  of 
the  Norman  duchy  and  widened  the  territory  in 
every  way.  The  Norman  dukes  could  claim  the 
right  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  those  states  to 
which  they  Avere  allied,  and  they  improved  their  op- 
portunities. But  the  most  important  of  all  the  alli- 
ances has  not  been  spoken  of  at  all — the  marriage  of 
Richard  the  Fearless'  daughter  Emma  to  -^thelred 
jthe  Unready  of  England. 

"T^Elhelred  himself  was  the  black  sheep  of  his  illus- 
trious family — a  long  line  of  noble  men  they  were 
for  the  most  part.  In  that  age  much  of  the 
character  of  a  nation's  history  depended  upon  its 
monarch,  and  it  is  almost  impossible  to  tell  the  for- 
tunes of  a  country  except  by  giving  the  biographies 


DUKE  RICHARD   THE   GOOD.  IO3 

of  the  reigning  king.  This  yEthelred  seems  to  have 
had  energy  enough,  but  he  began  many  enterprises 
and  never  ended  them,  and  wasted  a  great  deal  of 
strength  on  long,  needless  expeditions,  and  does  not 
appear  to  have  made  effective  resistance  to  the  ene- 
mies who  came  knocking  at  the  very  gates  of  Eng- 
land. He  had  no  tact  and  little  bravery,  and  was 
given  to  putting  his  trust  in  unworthy  and  treacher- 
ous followers,  ^thelred  was  the  descendant  of  good 
King  Alfred  and  his  noble  successors,  but  his  own 
kingdom  was  ready  to  fall  to  pieces  before  he  reigned 
over  it  very  long,  and  his  reign  of  thirty-eight  years 
came  near  to  being  the  ruin  of  England.  There 
were  two  or  three  men  who  helped  him  in  the  evil 
work,  who  were  greater  traitors  at  heart  than  yEthel- 
red  himself,  and  we  can  hardly  understand  why  they 
were  restored  to  favor  after  their  treason  and  sel- 
fishness were  discovered.  As  one  historian  says,  if 
we  could  only  have  a  few  of  the  private  letters,  of 
which  we  have  such  abundance  two  or  three  cen- 
turies later,  they  would  be  the  key  to  many  dififi- 
culties. 

The  Danes  were  nibbling  at  the  shores  of  Eng- 
land as  rats  would  gnaw  at  a  biscuit.  They  grew 
more  and  more  troublesome.  Over  in  Normandy, 
Richard  the  Good  was  treating  these  same  Danes 
like  friends,  and  allowing  them  to  come  into  his 
harbors  to  trade  with  the  Norman  merchants.  In 
the  Cotentin  country  they  found  a  people  much  like 
themselves,  preserving  many  old  traditions,  and 
something  of  the  northern  speech.  The  Cotentin 
lands  were  poor  and  rocky,  but  the  hills  were  crowded 


I04  THE   STORY  OF    THE   NORMANS. 

with  castles,  well  armed  and  well  fortified,  and  the  men 
were  brave  soldiers  and  sailors,  true  descendants  of 
the  old  vikings.  They  sought  their  fortunes  on  the 
sea  too,  and  we  can  trace  the  names  of  these  Cotentin 
barons  and  their  followers  through  the  army  of 
William  the  Conqueror  to  other  castles  in  the  broad 
English  lands  that  were  won  in  less  than  a  hundred 
years  from  ^thelred's  time.  Very  likely  some  of 
these  Cotentin  Normans  were  in  league  with  the 
northern  Danes  who  made  their  head-quarters  on 
the  Norman  shores,  and  went  plundering  across  the 
Channel.  Soon  ^thelred  grew  very  angry,  which 
was  to  be  expected,  and  he  gathered  his  fleets  at 
Portsmouth,  and  announced  that  he  should  bring 
Duke  Richard  back  a  captive  in  chains,  and  waste 
the  whole  offending  country  with  fire,  except  the 
holy  St.  Michael's  Mount. 

The  fleet  obeyed  ^thelred's  foolish  orders,  and 
went  ashore  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Barfleur, 
only  to  find  the  Normans  assembled  from  the  whole 
surrounding  country — not  a  trained  army  by  any 
means,  but  an  enraged  peasantry,  men  and  women 
alike,  armed  with  shepherds'  crooks,  and  reaping- 
hooks  and  flails,  and  in  that  bloody  battle  of  Sang- 
lac,  they  completely  routed  the  English.  All  the 
invaders  who  escaped  crowded  into  six  of  their 
vessels  and  abandoned  the  rest,  and  hurried  away  as 
fast  as  they  could  go.  This  was  a  strong  link  in  the 
chain  that  by  and  by  would  be  long  enough  to  hold 
England  fast,  and  put  her  at  the  mercy  of  the  Nor- 
mans altogether.  There  was  peace  made  before 
very   long,  though  the    Normans   considered  them^ 


DUKE  RICHARD  THE   GOOD. 


105 


selves  to  have  been  grievously  insulted,  and  laughed 
at  the  English  for  being  so  well  whipped.  Perpetual 
peace,  the  contract  unwisely  promises,  and  the  pope 
interfered  between  the 
combatants,  to  prevent  the 
shedding  of  innocent 
blood.  After  the  promises 
were  formally  made,  ^th- 
elred  tried  to  make  the 
alliance  even  closer.  He 
had  children  already  — 
one,  the  gallant  Eadmund 
Ironside,  who  might  have 
saved  the  tottering  king- 
dom if  he  had  only  held 
the  authority  which  was 
thrown  away  in  his  father's 
hands.  The  name  of  M.\.\i- 
elred's  first  queen  has  been 
lost,  but  she  was  "  a 
noble  lady,  the  daughter  of 
Thored,  an  Ealdorman," 
and  had  been  some  time 
dead,  so  with  great  diplo- 
macy King  ^thelred  the  ^  ^  """  , 

■'  *=•  QUEEN  EMMA  OR  /ELFGIFU  (FROM 

Unready,  "  by  the  grace  the  register  of  hyde  ab- 
of  God  Basileus  of  Albion,  ^^'' 
King  and  Monarch  of  all  the  British  Nations,  of  the 
Orkneys  and  the  surrounding  Islands,"  as  he  liked  to 
sign  himself,  came  wooing  to  Normandy.  Emma, 
the  duke's  sister,  married  him  and  went  to  England. 
iCthelred  gave  her  a  splendid  wedding-present  of 


I06  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

wide  domains  in  the  counties  of  Devon  and  Hants, 
part  of  which  held  the  cathedral  cities  of  Winchester 
and  Exeter,  the  pride  and  defence  of  Southern 
Britain.  Queen  Emma  gave  the  governorship  of 
Exeter  to  her  chief  adviser  and  ofificer,  Hugh  the 
Norman,  and  her  new  subjects  called  her  the  Gem 
of  Normandy,  and  treated  her  with  great  deference. 
She  had  the  beauty  of  her  race  and  of  Rolf's  de- 
scendants, and  her  name  was  changed  to  ^Ifgifu, 
because  this  sounded  more  familiar  to  the  English 
ears.  At  least  that  is  the  explanation  which  has 
come  down ^  to  us. 

Things  were  in  a  very  bad  way  in  England — the 
Anglo-Saxon  rule  of  that  time  was  founded  upon 
fraud  and  violence,  and  the  heavy  misfortunes  which 
assailed  the  English  made  them  fear  worse  troubles 
later  on.  The  wisest  among  them  tried  to  warn 
their  countrymen,  but  the  warnings  were  apparently 
of  little  use.  The  make-believe  rejoicings  at  Queen 
Emma's  coming  were  quickly  over  with,  and  soon  we 
hear  of  her  flight  to  Normandy.  Many  reasons  were 
given  for  this  ominous  act.  Some  say  that  .^thelred 
disgusted  her  by  his  drunkenness  and  lawlessness, 
and  others  that  Hugh  the  Norman  was  treacherous, 
and  betrayed  his  trust  to  the  Danes,  and  that  the 
queen  was  a  partner  in  the  business.  There  is  still 
another  story,  that  .^Ethelred  was  guilty  of  a  shocking 
massacre,  and  that  Emma  fled  in  the  horror  and 
confusion  that  it  made.  Yet  later  she  returned  to 
England  as  the  queen  of  Cnut  the  Dane. 

Now  we  must  change  from  England  to  France 
altogether  for  a  few  pages,  and  see  how  sttMdilv  the 


DUKE  RICHARD   THE   GOOD.  10/ 

power  of  the  Normans  was  growing,  and  how  widely 
it  made  itself  felt.  We  must  see  Richard  the  Good 
as  the  ally  of  France  in  the  warfare  waged  by  King 
Robert  against  Burgundy,  which  was  the  most  im- 
portant event  of  Robert's  reign.  Old  Hugh  of  Paris 
had  carefully  avoided  any  confusion  between  the 
rights  of  Burgundy  and  the  rights  of  France  when 
he  established  the  foundation  of  his  kingdom.  He 
was  a  wise  politician,  and  understood  that  it  would 
not  do  to  conflict  with  such  a  power  as  Burgundy's, 
which  held  the  Low  Countries,  Spain,  and  Portugal 
and  Italy  within  its  influence.  Since  his  day  Bur- 
gundy had  been  divided,  but  it  was  still  distinguished 
for  its  great  piety  and  the  number  of  its  religious 
institutions.  Robert's  uncle  was  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
and  he  was  a  very  old  man  ;  so  Robert  himself  had 
high  hopes  of  becoming  his  successor.  His  chief 
rival  was  the  representative  of  the  Lombard  kings  in 
Italy — Otho  William,  who  was  son  of  Adalbert,  a 
pirate  who  had  wandered  beyond  the  Alps,  and  Ger- 
berga,  the  Count  of  Chalons'  daughter.  After  Adal- 
bert died  Gerberga  married  old  Duke  Henry  of 
Burgundy,  and  prevailed  upon  him  to  declare  her 
son  as  his  successor.  This  was  illegal,  but  Otho 
William  was  much  admired  and  beloved,  and  the 
great  part  of  the  Burgundians  upheld  his  right. 

Behold,  then,  Richard  the  Good  and  his  Norman 
soldiery  marching  away  to  the  wars  !  Duke  Henry 
was  dead,  and  King  Robert  made  haste  to  summon 
his  ally.  Thirty  thousand  men  were  mustered  under 
the  Norman  banner,  and  the  black  raven  of  war  went 
slowly  inland.     What  an  enterprise  it  was  to  trans- 


I08  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

port  such  a  body  of  men  and  horses  across  country! 
Supphes  could  not  be  hurried  from  point  to  point  as 
readily  as  in  after-times,  and  the  country  itself  must 
necessarily  be  almost  devastated  as  if  a  swargi  of 
locusts  had  crept  through  it.  Normandy  was  over- 
flowing with  a  military  population  anxious  for  some- 
thing to  do,  with  a  lingering  love  for  piracy  and 
plundering.  They  made  a  swift  journey,  and  Rich- 
ard and  his  men  were  at  the  gates  of  the  city  of 
Auxerre  almost  as  soon  as  the  venerable  duke  was 
in  his  grave. 

There  was  a  tremendous  siege ;  Robert's  rival 
had  won  the  people's  hearts,  and  in  the  natural 
strongholds  of  the  mountain  slopes  they  defended 
themselves  successfully.  Besides  this  brave  opposi- 
tion of  the  Burgundians,  the  Normans  were  fought 
against  in  a  more  subtle  way  by  strange  phenomena 
in  the  heavens.  A  fiery  dragon  shot  across  the  sky, 
and  a  thick  fog  and  darkness  overspread  the  face  of 
the  earth.  Auxerre  was  shrouded  in  night,  and  the 
Norman  archers  could  not  see  to  shoot  their  arrows. 
Before  long  the  leagued  armies  raised  the  siege  of 
the  border  city  and  marched  on  farther  into  the 
country  up  among  the  bleak,  rocky  hills.  Only  one 
of  the  Burgundian  nobles — Hugh,  Count  of  Chalons 
and  Bishop  of  Auxerre — was  loyal  to  the  cause  of 
King  Robert  of  France.  Presently  we  shall  see  him 
again  under  very  surprising  circumstances  for  a 
count,  not  to  speak  of  a  bishop  !  The  country  was 
thoroughly  ravaged,  but  some  time  passed  before  it 
was  finally  conquered.  At  last  there  was  a  compro- 
mise,   and    Robert's    son    was   elected    duke.       His 


DUKE   RICHARD   THE    GOOD.  IO9 

descendants  gave  France  a  vast  amount  of  trouble 
in  later  years,  and  so  Burgundy  revenged  herself 
and  Otho  William's  lost  cause. 

Richard  of  Normandy  had  kept  his  army  well 
drilled  in  this  long  Burgundian  campaign,  but  before 
his  reign  was  over  he  had  another  war  to  fight  with 
the  Count  of  Dreux.  The  lands  of  Dreux  were 
originally  in  the  grant  made  to  Rolf,  but  later  they 
were  held  by  a  line  of  counts,  whose  last  representa- 
tive disappeared  in  Richard  the  Fearless'  reign.  We 
find  the  country  in  Richard's  possession  without  any 
record  of  war,  so  it  had  probably  fallen  to  the 
crown  by  right.  There  was  a  great  Roman  road 
through  the  territory  like  the  Watling  Street  that  ran 
from  Dover  to  Chester  through  England,  and  this 
was  well  defended  as  the  old  Roman  roads  always 
were.  Chartres  was  joined  to  Dreux  by  this  road, 
and  Chartres  was  not  at  peace  with  Normandy.  So 
a  new  fort  and  a  town  sprung  up  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  to  keep  Chartres  in  check:  Tilli^res,  or  the 
Tileries,  which  we  might  call  the  ancestor  of  the 
famous  Tuileries  of  modern  Paris. 

There  were  several  fierce  battles,  and  sometimes 
gaining  and  sometimes  losing,  the  Normans  found 
themselves  presently  in  a  hard  place.  We  are  rather 
startled  to  hear  of  the  appearance  of  king  Olaf  of  Nor- 
way and  the  king  of  the  Swedes  as  Richard's  allies. 
The  French  people  had  not  wholly  outgrown  their 
hatred — or  fear  and  distrust  either — of  the  pirates, 
and  when  the  news  came  that  bands  of  Northmen 
were  landing  in  Brittany  there  was  a  wild  excitement. 
Richard  and  the  Chartres  chieftain  were  making  alto- 


no  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

gether  too  much  of  their  quarrel,  and  King  Robe-rt, 
as  preserver  of  the  public  peace,  was  obliged  to 
interfere.  After  this  episode  everybody  was  more 
afraid  of  Normandy  than  ever,  and  Chartres  was  the 
gainer  by  the  town  of  Dreux,  with  its  forest  and 
castle,  that  being  the  king's  award.  We  cannot  help 
wondering  why  Richard  was  persuaded  to  yield  so 
easily,  with  all  his  Northmen  eager  enough  to  fight 
— but  they  disappear  for  the  time  being,  and  many 
stories  were  told  of  their  treacherous  warfare  in 
Brittany;  of  the  pitfalls  covered  with  branches  into 
which  they  tempted  their  mounted  enemies  on  the 
battle-field  of  D61.  All  this  seems  to  have  been  a 
little  private  diversion  on  their  way  to  the  Norman 
capital,  where  they  were  bidden  for  the  business  with 
Chartres. 

Then  there  was  a  fight  with  the  bishopric  of 
Chalons,  which  interests  us  chiefly  because  Richard's 
son  and  namesake  first  makes  his  appearance.  Re- 
naud,  the  son  of  Otho  William,  who  had  lost  the 
dukedom  of  Burgundy,  had  married  a  Norman  dam- 
sel belonging  to  the  royal  family  of  Rolf.  This 
Renaud  was  defeated  and  captured  by  the  Count- 
Bishop  of  Chalons,  of  whom  we  know  something 
already.  He  was  loyal  to  King  Robert  of  France, 
you  remember,  in  the  war  with  Burgundy,  and  now 
he  treated  Renaud  with  terrible  severity,  and  had 
broken  his  vows,  moreover,  by  getting  married. 

King  Robert  gave  the  Normans  permission  to 
march  through  his  dominions,  and  seems  to  have 
turned  his  back  upon  the  Count-Bishop.  There  was 
a  succession  of  sieges,  and  the  army  burned  and  de- 


DUKE  RICHARD'  THE    GOOD.  Ill 

stroyed  on  every  side  as  it  went  through  Burgundy, 
and  finally  made  great  havoc  in  one  of  the  chief 
towns,  called  Mirmande  in  the  chronicles,  though 
no  Mirmande  can  be  heard  of  now  in  that  part  of  the 
world,  and  perhaps  the  angry  Normans  determined 
to  leave  no  trace  of  it  for  antiquarians  and  geograph- 
ers to  discover.  The  Count-Bishop  flees  for  his  life 
to  Chalons,  and  when  he  was  assailed  there,  he  was 
so  frightened  that  he  put  an  old  saddle  on  his  back 
and  came  out  of  the  city  gates  in  that  fashion  to 
beg  for  mercy.  The  merry  historian  who  describes 
this  scene  adds  that  he  offered  Richard  a  ride  and 
that  he  rolled  on  the  ground- at  the  young  duke's 
feet  in  complete  humiliation.  One  might  reasona- 
bly say  that  the  count  made  a  donkey  of  himself  in 
good  earnest,  and  that  his  count's  helmet  and  his 
priestly,  shaven  crown  did  not  go  very  well  together. 

The  third  Richard  covered  himself  with  glory  in 
this  campaign,  however,  and  went  back  to  Normandy 
triumphant,  to  give  his  old  father  great  pleasure  by 
his  valor.  But  Richard  the  Good  was  very  feeble 
now,  and  knew  that  he  was  going  to  die  ;  so,  like 
Richard  the  Fearless,  he  went  to  Fecamp  to  spend 
his  last  days. 

When  he  had  confessed  to  the  bishops,  he  called 
for  his  faithful  barons,  and  made  his  will.  Richard 
was  to  be  his  successor,  and  his  courage  and  honesty 
deserved  it ;  but  the  old  father  appears  to  have  had 
a  presentiment  that  all  would  not  go  well,  for  he 
begged  the  barons  to  be  loyal  to  the  good  youth. 
Robert,  the  second  son,  fell  heir  to  the  county  of 
Exmes,  upon  the  condition  that  he  should  be  faithful 


112  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

to  his  brother.  There  was  another  son,  Mauger,  3 
bad  fellow,  who  had  no  friends  or  reputation,  even 
at  that  early  day.  He  was  a  monk,  and  a  very  low- 
minded  one  ;  but  later  he  appears,  to  our  astonish- 
ment, as  Archbishop  of  Rouen.  No  mention  is 
made  of  his  receiving  any  gift  from  his  father ;  and 
soon  Richard  the  Good  died  and  was  buried  in  the 
Fecamp  Abbey.  In  after  years  the  bones  of  Richard 
the  Fearless  were  taken  from  the  sarcophagus  out- 
side the  abbey  door,  and  father  and  son  were  laid  in 
a  new  tomb  near  the  high  altar. 

All  this  early  history  of  Normandy  is  told  mainly 
by  two  men,  the  saga-writers  of  their  time — William 
of  Jumi^ges,  who  wrote  in  the  lifetime  of  William 
the  Conqueror,  and  Master  Wace,  of  Caen,  who  was 
born  on  the  island  of  Jersey,  between  thirty  and 
forty  years  after  the  conquest  of  England.  His 
"  Roman  de  Rou  "  is  most  spirited  and  interesting, 
but,  naturally,  the  earlier  part  of  it  is  not  always 
reliable.  Both  the  chroniclers  meant  to  tell  the 
truth,  but  writing  at  a  later  date  for  the  glory  of 
Normandy,  and  in  such  a  credulous  age,  we  must 
forgive  them  their  inaccuracies. 

They  have  a  great  deal  more  to  say  about  Richard 
the  Good  than  about  his  two  sons,  Richard  and 
Robert.  Richard  was  acknowledged  as  duke  by  all 
the  barons  after  his  father's  death,  and  then  went  in 
state  to  Paris  to  do  homage  to  King  Robert.  This 
we  learn  from  the  records  of  his  contract  of  marriage 
with  the  king's  daughter.  Lady  Adela,  who  was  a 
baby  in  her  cradle,  and  the  copy  of  the  settlements 
is  preserved,  or,  at  least,  the  account  of  the  dowry 


DUKE  RICHARD  THE   GOOD.  II3 

which  Richard  promised.  This  was  the  seigneiirie 
of  the  whole  Cotentin  country,  and  several  other 
baronies  and  communes;  Cherbourg  and  Bruot  and 
Caen,  and  many  cities  and  lands  besides.  Poor  little- 
Lady  Adela  !  and  poor  young  husband,  too,  for  that 
matter;  for  this  was  quite  a  heartless  affair  of  state, 
and  neither  of  them  was  to  be  any  happier  for  all 
their  great  possessions. 

In  the  meantime  Robert,  the  Duke's  brother,  was 
not  in  the  least  satisfied,  and  made  an  outcry  be- 
cause, though  he  was  lord  of  the  beautiful  county  of 
Exmes,  the  city  of  Falaise  was  withheld  from  him. 
There  was  a  man  from  Brittany  who  urged  him  to 
resent  his  wrongs,  and  made  trouble  between  the 
brothers;  Ermenoldus  he  was  called,  the  thcosophist ; 
and  there  is  a  great  mystery  about  him  which  the 
old  writers  stop  to  wonder  over.  He  was  evidently 
a  sort  of  magician,  and  those  records  that  can  be 
discovered  give  rise  to  a  suspicion  that  he  had 
strayed  far  eastward  with  some  pirate  fleet  toward 
Asia,  and  had  learned  there  to  work  wonders  and  to 
compass  his  ends  by  uncanny  means. 

There  was  a  siege  of  Falaise,  which  Robert  seized 
and  tried  to  keep  by  main  strength ;  but  Richard's 
army  was  too  much  for  him,  and  at  last  he  sued  for 
peace.  The  brothers  went  back  to  Rouen  appar- 
ently the  best  of  friends ;  but  there  was  a  grand 
banquet  in  Rolf's  old  castle,  and  Richard  was  sud- 
denly death-struck  as  he  sat  at  the  head  of  the  feast, 
and  was  carried  to  his  bed,  where  he  quickly  breathed 
his  last.  The  funeral  bell  began  to  toll  while  the 
banquet  still  went  on,  and  the  barons  made  them 
selves  merry  in  the  old  hall. 


114 


THE   STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 


There  was  great  lamentation,  for  Richard  was  al- 
ready much  beloved,  and  nobody  doubted  that  he 
had  been  poisoned.  So  Robert  came  to  the  throne 
of  Normandy  with  a  black  stain  upon  his  character, 
and  during  all  the  rest  of  his  life  that  stain  was  not 
overlooked  nor  forgotten. 

As  for  the  baby-widow,  she  afterward  became  the 
wife  of  the  Count  of  Flanders,  Baldwin  de  Lisle,  and 
she  was  the  mother  of  Matilda,  who  was  the  wife  of 
William  the  Conqueror. 


VI. 

ROBERT   THE    MAGNIFICENT. 
"  What  exile  from  himself  can  flee  ?" — Byron. 

Before  we  begin  the  story  of  the  next  Duke  of 
Normandy  whose  two  surnames,  the  Devil,  and  the 
Magnificent,  give  us  a  broad  hint  of  his  character, 
we  must  take  a  look  at  the  progress  of  affairs 
in  the  dukedom.  There  is  one  thing  to  be  re- 
membered in  reading  this  history,  or  any  other,  that 
history  is  not  merely  the  story  of  this  monarch  or 
that,  however  well  he  may  represent  the  age  in 
which  he  lived  and  signify  its  limitations  and  devel- 
opment. 

In  Normandy  one  cannot  help  seeing  that  a  power 
has  been  at  work  bringing  a  new  Northern  element 
into  the  country,  and  that  there  has  been  a  great 
growth  in  every  way  since  Rolf  came  with  his 
vikings  and  besieged  the  city  of  Jumieges.  Now 
the  dukedom  that  he  formed  is  one  of  the  fore- 
most of  its  day,  able  to  stand  on  equal  ground 
with  the  royal  kingdom  and  duchy  of  France,  for 
Robert's  homage  is  only  the  homage  of  equals  and 
allies.  Normandy  is  the  peer  of  Burgundy  and  of 
Flanders,  and  every  day  increases  in  strength,    in 

"5 


Il6  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

ambition,  in  scholarship  and  wealth.  The  influence 
and  prestige  of  the  dukedom  are  recognized  every- 
where, and  soon  the  soldiers  of  Normandy  are  going 
to  take  hold  of  English  affairs  and  master  them  with 
unequalled  strength.  Chivalry  is  in  the  bloom  of  its 
youth,  and  the  merchants  of  Falaise,  and  Rouen, 
and  their  sister  cities,  are  rich  and  luxurious.  The 
women  are  skilled  in  needlework  and  are  famous  for 
their  beauty  and  intelligence.  Everywhere  there 
are  new  castles  and  churches,  and  the  land  swarms 
with  inhabitants  who  hardly  find  room  enough, 
while  the  great  army  hardly  draws  away  the  over- 
plus of  men  from  the  farms  and  workshops.  There 
are  whole  districts  like  the  Cotentin  peninsula,  that 
are  nearly  ready  to  pour  out  their  population  into 
some  new  country,  like  bees  when  they  swarm  in 
early  summer,  and  neither  the  fashion  of  going  on 
pilgrimage  to  the  holy  shrines,  nor  the  spirit  that 
leads  to  any  warlike  adventure,  are  equal  ^o  the  need 
for  a  new  conquest  of  territory,  and  a  general 
emigration. 

There  are  higher  standards  everywhere  in  law  and 
morals  and  customs  of  home-life.  The  nobles  are 
very  proud  and  keep  up  a  certain  amount  of  state  in 
their  high  stone  castles.  In  the  Cotentin  alone  the 
ruins  of  more  than  a  hundred  of  these  can  yet  be 
seen,  and  all  over  Normandy  and  Brittany  are  relics  of 
that  busy,  prosperous  time.  The  whole  territory  is 
like  a  young  man  who  has  reached  his  majority,  and 
who  feels  a  strength  and  health  and  ambition  that 
make  him  restless,  and  make  him  believe  himself 
capable  of  great  things, 


<o     >_ 


^       S    00 

o 


^  l-i 


Il8  THE   SrORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

From  followers  of  the  black  ravens  and  worshippers 
of  the  god  Thor,  the  Normans  have  become  Chris- 
tians and  devout  followers  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
They  go  on  pilgrimage  to  distant  shrines  and  build 
churches  that  the  world  may  well  wonder  at  to-day 
and  try  to  copy.  They  have  great  houses  for  monks 
and  nuns,  and  crowds  of  priests  and  scholars,  and  it 
would  not  be  easy  to  find  worshippers  of  the  old 
faith  unless  among  old  people  and  in  secluded  neigh- 
borhoods. There  is  little  left  of  the  old  Northman's 
fashions  of  life  but  his  spirit  is  as  vigorous  as  ever, 
and  his  courage,  and  recklessness,  his  love  of  a  fight 
and  hatred  of  cowardice,  his  beauty  and  shapeliness, 
are  sent  down  from  generation  to  generation,  a  surer 
inheritance  than  lands  or  money.  We  grow  eager, 
ourselves,  to  see  what  will  come  of  this  leaven  of 
daring  and  pride  of  strength.  There  is  no  such 
thing  for  Normandy  now,  as  tranquillity. 

Duke  Robert's  story  is  chiefly  interesting  to  us 
because  he  was  the  father  of  William  the  Conqueror, 
and  in  most  of  the  accounts  of  that  time  it  is  hard 
to  find  any  thing  except  various  versions  of  his 
course  toward  his  more  famous  son.  But  in  reality 
he  was  a  very  gifted  and  powerful  man,  and  strange 
to  say,  the  conquest  of  England  was  only  the  carry- 
ing out  of  a  plan  that  was  made  by  Puke  Robert 
himself. 

The  two  young .  sons  of  Emma  and  vEthelred 
were  still  in  Normandy,  and  the  Duke  thought  it  was 
a  great  pity  that  they  were  neglected  and  apparently 
forgotten  by  their  countrymen.  He  undertook  to 
be  their  champion,  and  boldly  demanded  that   King 


ROBERT  THE   MAGNIFICENT.  II9 

Cnut  of  England  should  consider  their  rights.  He 
sent  an  embassy  to  England  and  bade  Cnut  "give 
them  their  own,"  which  probably  meant  the  English 
crown.  Cnut  disdained  the  message,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  and  Duke  Robert  armed  his  men 
and  fitted  out  a  fleet,  and  all  set  sail  for  England  to 
force  the  Dane  to  recognize  the  young  princes.  It 
sounds  very  well  that  the  Normans  should  have  been 
so  eager  to  serve  the  Duke's  cousins,  but  no  doubt 
they  were  talking  together  already  about  the  possi- 
bility of  extending  their  dominions  across  the  Chan- 
nel. They  were  disappointed  now,  however,  for 
they  w  jre  beaten  back  and  out  of  their  course  by 
very  bad  weather,  and  had  to  put  in  at  the  island  of 
Jersey.  From  there  they  took  a  short  excursion  to 
Brittany,  because  Robert  and  his  cousin  Alan  were 
not  on  good  terms,  Alan  having  refused  to  do  hom- 
age to  Normandy.  There  was  a  famous  season  of 
harrying  and  burning  along  the  Breton  coast,  which 
may  have  reconciled  the  adventurers  to  their  disap- 
pointment, but  at  any  rate  the  conquest  of  England 
was  put  off  for  forty  years.  One  wonders  how 
Cnut's  Queen  Emma  felt  about  the  claims  of  her 
sons.  It  was  a  strange  position  for  her  to  be  put 
into.  A  Norman  woman  herself  who  had  virtually 
forsaken  her  children,  she  could  hardly  blame  her 
brother  for  his  efforts  to  restore  them  to  their  Eng- 
lish belongings,  and  yet  she  was  bound  to  her  new 
English  interests,  and  must  have  different  standards 
as  Danish  Cnut's  wife  from  those  of  Saxon  yEthel- 
red's.  There  is  an  announcement  in  one  of  the  Nor- 
man  chronicles    that  Cnut    sent    a  message  to    the 


I20  THE  STORY  OF  THE   A'ORMAJVS.  " 

effect  that  he  would  give  the  princes  their  rights 
at  his  death.  This  must  have  been  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  but  it  is  not  very  Hkely  that  any  such  thing 
ever  happened. 

A  new  acquaintance  between  the  countries  must 
have  grown  out  of  the  banishment  of  some  of  the 
EngHsh  nobles  in  the  early  part  of  Cnut's  reign,  and 
they  no  doubt  strengthened  the  interest  of  the  Nor- 
mans, and  made  their  desire  to  possess  England 
greater  than  ever  before.  We  shall  be  conscious  of  it 
more  and  more  until  the  time  of  the  Conquest  comes. 
The  Normans  plotted  and  planned  again  and  again, 
»  and  their  intrigues  continually  grew  more  dangerous 
to  England.  It  is  plain  to  see  that  they  were  al- 
ways watching  for  a  chance  to  try  their  strength, 
and  were  not  unwilling  to  provoke  a  quarrel.  Ead- 
ward,  one  of  the  English  princes,  was  ready  to  claim 
his  rights,  but  he  had  learned  to  be  very  fond  of 
Normandy,  and  his  half-heartedness  served  his 
adopted  country  well  when  he  came  at  last  to  the 
English  throne.  For  the  present  we  lose  sight  of 
him,  but  not  of  ^Elfred  his  brother,  who  ventured  to 
England  on  an  expedition  which  cost  him  his  life, 
but  that  failure  made  the  Norman  desire  for  revenge 
burn  hotter  and  deeper  than  before,  though  the 
ashes  of  disappointment  covered  it  for  a  time, 

Duke  Robert's  reign  began  with  a  grand  flourish, 
as  if  he  wished  to  bribe  his  subjects  into  forgetful- 
ness  of  his  brother  Richard's  death.  There  were 
splendid  feasts  and  presents  of  armor  and  fine  clothes 
for  his  retainers,  and  he  won  his  name  of  the  Mag- 
nificent   in    the  very   face  of  those  who  whispered 


ROBERT  THE   MAGNIFICENT.  121 

that  he  was  a  murderer.  He  was  very  generous,  and 
seems  to  have  given  presents  for  the  pleasure  it  gave 
himself  rather  than  from  any  underhand  motives  of 
gaining  popularity.  We  are  gravely  told  that  some 
of  his  beneficiaries  died  of  joy,  which  strikes  one  as 
being  somewhat  exaggerated. 

The  old  castle  of  Rolf  at  Rouen  was  forsaken  for 
the  castle  of  Falaise.  No  doubt  there  were  unpleas- 
ant associations  with  Rolf's  hall,  where  poor  Richard 
had  been  seized  with  his  mysterious  mortal  illness. 
Falaise,  with  its  hunting-grounds  and  pleasant  woods 
and  waters  and  its  fine  situation,  was  Robert's  favorite 
home  forever  after.  There  he  brought  his  wife  Es- 
trith,  Cnut's  sister,  who  first  had  been  the  wife  of 
Ulf  the  Danish  king,  and  there  he  lived  in  a  free 
companionship  with  his  nobles  and  with  great  con- 
descension towards  his  inferiors,  with  whom  he  was 
often  associated  in  most  familiar  terms. 

There  were  chances  enough  to  show  his  valor. 
Once  Baldwin  the  elder,  of  Flanders,  was  attacked  by 
his  son  Baldwin  de  Lisle,  who  had  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  an  army,  and  the  poor  Count  was  forced  to 
flee  to  Falaise  for  shelter  and  safety.  Any  excuse 
for  going  to  war  seems  to  have  been  accepted  in 
Normandy  ;  the  country  was  brimming  over  with 
people.  There  was  almost  more  population  than  the 
land  could  support,  and  Robert  led  his  men  to  Flan- 
ders with  great  alacrity,  and  settled  the  mutiny  so 
entirely  that  there  was  no  more  trouble.  Flanders 
was  brought  to  a  proper  state  of  submission,  as  if  in 
revenge  for  old  scores.  At  last  the  noblemen  who 
had  upheld  the  insurrection  all  deserted  the  leader  of 


122  THE    STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

it,  and  both  they  and  young  Baldwin  besought  Rob- 
ert to  make  the  terms  of  peace.  After  this,  Flan- 
ders and  Normandy  were  very  friendly  together, 
and  before  long  they  formed  a  most  significant  alli- 
ance of  the  royal  houses. 

In  Robert's  strolls  about  Falaise,  perhaps  in  dis- 
guise, like  another  Haroun  al  Raschid,  his  beauty- 
loving  eyes  caught  sight  one  day  of  a  young  girl 
who  was  standing  bare-footed  in  a  shallow  brook, 
washing  linen,  and  making  herself  merry  with  a 
group  of  busy  young  companions.  This  was  Arlette, 
or  Herleva,  according  as  one  gives  her  the  Saxon  or 
the  Norman  name  ;  her  father  was  a  brewer  and  tan- 
ner, who  had  been  attracted  to  Falaise  from  Ger- 
many by  the  reputation  of  its  leather  manufactures 
and  good  markets.  The  pastures  and  hunting- 
grounds  made  skins  very  cheap  and  abundant,  but 
the  trade  of  skinning  of  beasts  was  considered  a  most 
degrading  one,  and  those  who  pursued  it  in  ancient 
times  were  thought  less  of  than  those  who  followed 
almost  any  other  occupation.  If  we  were  not  sure  of 
this,  we  might  suspect  the  Norman  nobles  of  casting 
undue  shame  and  reproach  upon  this  man  Fulbert, 

Duke  Robert  seems  to  have  quite  forgotten  his 
lawful  wife  in  his  new  love-making  with  Herleva. 
Even  the  tanner  himself  objected  to  the  duke's  no- 
tice of  his  daughter,  but  who  could  withstand  the 
wishes"  of  so  great  a  man  ?  Not  Fulbert,  who  ac- 
cepted the  inevitable  with  a  good  grace,  for  later  in 
the  story  he  shows  himself  a  faithful  retainer  and 
household  official  of  his  lord  and  master.  Robert 
never  seems  to  have  recovered  from  his  first  devo- 


ROBERT  THE  MAGNIFICENT.  123 

tion  to  the  pretty  creature  who  stood  with  slender, 
ivhite  feet  in  the  brook,  and  turned  so  laughing  a 
face  toward  him.  They  showed  not  long  ago  the 
very  castle-window  in  Falaise  from  which  he  caught 
his  first  sight  of  the  woman  who  was  to  rule  his  life. 
He  did  not  marry  her,  though  Estrith  was  sent 
away ;  but  they  had  a  son,  who  was  named  William, 
who  himself  added  the  titles  of  the  Great  and  The 
Conqueror,  but  who  never  escaped  hearing  to  his 
life's  end  the  shame  and  ignominy  of  his  birth. 
We  cannot  doubt  that  it  was  as  mean  an  act  then  as 
now  to  taunt  a  man  with  the  disgrace  he  could  not 
help  ;  but  of  all  the  great  men  who  were  of  illegiti- 
mate birth  whom  we  know  in  the  pages  of  history, 
this  famous  William  is  oftenest  openly  shamed 
by  his  title  of  the  Bastard.  He  won  much  ap- 
plause ;  he  was  the  great  man  of  his  time,  but  from 
pique,  or  jealousy,  or  prejudice,  perhaps  from  some 
faults  that  he  might  have  helped,  he  was  forever  ac- 
cused of  the  shame  that  was  not  his.  The  Bastard, 
— the  Tanner's  Grandson  ;  he  was  never  allowed  to 
forget,  through  any  heroism  or  success  in  war,  or  fur- 
thering of  Norman  fortunes,  that  these  titles  be- 
longed to  him. 

The  pride  of  the  Norman  nobles  was  dreadfully 
assailed  by  Duke  Robert's  shameful  alliance  with 
'Herleva.  All  his  relations,  who  had  more  or  less 
right  to  the  ducal  crown,  were  enraged  beyond  con- 
trol. Estrith  had  no  children,  and  this  beggarly  lit- 
tle fellow  who  was  growing  plump  and  rosy  in  the  tan- 
ner's house,  was  arch-enemy  of  all  the  proud  lords  and 
gentlemen.  There  was  plenty  of  scandal  and  mockery 


124  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

in  Falaise,  and  the  news  of  Robert's  base  behavior 
was  flying  from  village  to  village  through  Nor- 
mandy and  France.  The  common  people  of  Falaise 
laughed  in  the  faces  of  the  barons  and  courtiers  as 
they  passed  in  the  street,  and  one  day  an  old 
burgher  and  neighbor  of  the  tanner  asked  William 
de  Talvas,  the  head  of  one  of  the  most  famous  Nor- 
man families,  to  go  in  with  him  to  see  the  Duke's 
son.  The  Lord  of  Alen^on  was  very  angry  when  he 
looked  at  the  innocent  baby-face.  He  saw,  by  some 
strange  foreboding  and  prevision,  the  troubles  that 
would  fall  upon  his  own  head  because  of  this  vigor- 
ous young  life,  and,  as  he  cursed  the  unconscious 
child  again  and  again,  his  words  only  echoed  the  fear 
that  was  creeping  through  Normandy. 

Robert  was  very  bold  in  his  defiance  of  public 
opinion,  and  before  long  the  old  tanner  sheds  his 
blouse  like  the  cocoon  of  a  caterpillar,  and  blooms 
out  resplendent  in  the  gay  trappings  of  court  cham- 
berlain. Herleva  was  given  the  place  as  duchess 
which  did  not  legally  belong  to  her,  and  this  hurt  the 
pride  of  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  court  and 
the  country  in  a  way  that  all  Robert's  munificence 
and  generosity  could  not  repay  or  cure.  The  age 
was  licentious  enough,  but  public  opinion  demanded 
a  proper  conformity  to  law  and  etiquette.  All  the 
aristocratic  house  of  Rolf's  descendants,  the  valor 
and  scholarship  and  churchmanship  of  Normandy, 
were  insulted  at  once.  The  trouble  fermented  mor'? 
and  more,  until  the  Duke's  uncle,  the  Archbishop  of 
Rouen,  called  his  nephew  to  account  for  such  open 
sin  and    disgrace    of    his    kindred,    and    finally    ex- 


ROBERT  THE   MAGNIFICENT.  12$ 

communicated  him  and  put  all  Normandy  under  a 
ban. 

Somehow  this  outbreak  was  quieted  down,  and 
just  then  Robert  was  called  upon,  not  only  to  settle 
the  quarrel  in  Flanders  above  mentioned,  but  to  up- 
hold the  rights  of  the  French  king.  For  his  success 
in  this  enterprise  he  was  granted  the  district  of  the 
Vexin,  .which  lay  between  Normandy  and  France, 
and  so  the  Norman  duchy  extended  its  borders  to 
the  very  walls  of  Paris.  Soon  other  questions  of 
pressing  importance  rose  up  to  divert  public  com- 
ment ;  it  was  no  time  to  provoke  the  Duke's  anger, 
and  there  was  little  notice  taken  of  Herleva's  aggra- 
vating presence  in  the  ducal  castle,  or  the  untoward 
growth  and  flourishing  of  .Iier  son. 

At  length  Duke  Robert  announced  his  intention 
of  going  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem.  He  wished 
to  show  his  piety  and  to  gain  as  much  credit  as  pos- 
sible, so  the  long  journey  was  to  be  made  on  foot. 
The  Norman  barons  begged  him  not  to  think  of 
such  a  thing,  for  in  the  excited  condition  of  French 
and  Norman  affairs  nothing  could  be  more  impru- 
dent than  to  leave  the  dukedom  masterless.  "  By  my 
faith  !  "  Robert  answered  stoutly,  "  I  do  not  mean  to 
leave  you  without  a  lord.  Here  is  my  young  son, 
who  will  grow  and  be  a  gallant  man,  by  God's  help ; 
I  command  you  to  take  him  for  your  lord,  for  I  make 
him  my  heir  and  give  him  my  whole  duchy  of 
Normandy." 

There  was  a  stormy  scene  in  the  council,  and  how- 
ever we  may  scorn  Robert's  foolish,  selfish  present- 
giving  and  his  vulgarity,  we  cannot  help  pitying  him 


126  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

as  he  pleads  with  the  knights  and  bishops  for  their 
recognition  of  his  innocent  boy.  We  pity  the  Duke's 
shame,  while  his  natural  feeling  toward  the  child 
wars  with  his  disgust.  With  all  his  eloquence,  with 
all  his  authority,  he  entreats  the  scornful  listeners 
until  they  yield.  They  have  warned  him  against  the 
danger  of  the  time,  and  of  what  he  must  expect,  not 
only  if  he  goes  on  pilgrimage  and  leaves  the  duke- 
dom to  its  undefended  fate,  but  also  if  he  further 
provokes  those  who  are  already  his  enemies,  and  who 
resent  the  presence  of  his  illegitimate  child.  But  he 
dares  to  put  the  base-born  lad  over  the  dukedom  of 
Normandy  as  his  own  successor.  He  even  goes  to 
the  king  of  France  and  persuades  him  to  receive 
the  unworthy  namesake  of  Longsword  as  vassal  and 
next  duke,  and  to  Alan  of  Brittany,  who  consents  to 
be  guardian.  Then  at  last  the  unwilling  barons  do 
homage  to  the  little  lord — a  bitter  condescension 
and  service  it  must- have  been  ! 

After  all  the  ceremonies  were  finished,  Robert  lost 
no  time  in  starting  on  his  pilgrimage.  He  sought 
the  shrine  of  Jerusalem,  many  a  weary  mile  awa}', 
over  mountain  and  fen,  past  dangers  of  every  sort. 
Nothing  could  be  more  characteristic  than  his  per- 
formance of  his  penance  or  his  pleasure  journey — 
whichever  he  called  it — for  although  he  went  on 
foot,  he  spent  enormous  sums  in  showering  alms 
upon  the  people  who  came  out  to  greet  him.  Her- 
alds rode  before  him,  and  prepared  his  lodging  and 
reception,  and  the  great  procession  of  horses  and 
grooms  and  beasts  of  burden  grew  longer  and  longer 
fis  he  went  on  his  way.     Once  they  blocked  up  the 


KOBEkT  THE  MAGNIFICENT. 


127 


gateway  of  a  town,  and  the  keeper  fell  upon  the 
pilgrim  Duke,  ignorantly,  and  gave  him  a  good 
thrashing  to  make  him  hurry  on  with  his  idle  crowd. 
Robert  piously  held  back  those  of  his  followers  who 


ROBERT,    DUKE    OK    NORMANDY,    CARRIED    IN    A    LITTER   TO   JERUSALEM. 
(from   an    old    ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPT.) 

would  have  beaten  the  warder  in  return,  and  said 
that  it  was  well  for  him  to  show  himself  a  pattern  of 
humility  and  patience,  and  such  suffering  was  meant 
for  the  !7ood  of  one's  soul. 


128      THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

The  Duke  did  a  great  many  foolish  things  ;  for 
one,  he  had  his  horses  shod  with  silver  shoes,  held 
on  by  only  one  nail,  and  gave  orders  that  none  of 
his  servants  should  pick  up  the  shoes  when  they 
were  cast,  but  let  them  lie  in  the  road. 

At  last  the  pilgrims  reached  Constantinople,  and 
Robert  made  a  great  display  of  his  wealth,  not  to 
speak  of  his  insolent  bad  manners.  The  emperor, 
Michael,  treated  his  rude  guests  with  true  Eastern 
courtesy,  and  behaved  himself  rnuch  more  honorably 
than  those  who  despised  him  and  called  him  names. 
He  even  paid  all  the  expenses  of  the  Norman  pro- 
cession, but,  no  doubt,  he  was  anxious  not  to  give 
any  excuse  for  displeasure  or  disturbance  between 
the  Northerners  and  his  own  citizens.  When  the 
visit  was  over,  and  Robert  moved  on  toward  Jerusa- 
lem, his  already  feeble  health,  broken  by  his  bad 
life,  grew  more  and  more  alarming,  and  at  last  he 
could  not  take  even  a  very  short  journey  on  foot,  and 
was  carried  in  a  litter  by  negroes.  The  Crusades 
were  filling  the  roads  with  pilgrims  and  soldiers,  and 
travellers  of  every  sort.  One  day  they  met  a  Coten- 
tinman,  an  old  acquaintance  of  Robert's.  The  Duke 
said  with  grim  merriment  that  he  was  borne  like  a 
corpse  on  a  bier.  "  My  lord,"  asked  the  Crusader, 
who  seems  to  have  been  sincerely  shocked  and  dole- 
ful at  the  sight  of  the  Duke's  suffering ;  "  my  lord, 
what  shall  I  say  for  you  when  I  reach  home  ?  "  "  That 
you  saw  me  carried  toward  Paradise  by  four  devils," 
said  the  Duke,  readier  at  any  time  to  joke  about  life 
than  to  face  it  seriously  and  to  do  his  duty.  He  kept 
up  the  pretence  of  travelling  unknown  and  in  dis- 


IfOBERT  THE  MAGNIFICENT.  1 29 

guise,  like  a  humbler  pilgrim,  but  his  lavishness 
alone  betrayed  the  secret  he  would  really  have  been 
sorry  to  keep.  Outside  the  gates  of  Jerusalem  there 
was  always  a  great  crowd  of  people  who  were  not 
able  to  pay  the  entrance-fee  demanded  of  every  pil- 
grim ;  but  Robert  paid  for  himself  and  all  the  rest 
before  he  went  in  at  the  gate.  The  long  journey  was 
almost  ended,  for  on  the  way  home,  at  the  city  of 
Nicaea,  the  Duke  was  poisoned,  and  died,  and  was 
buried  there  in  the  cathedral  with  great  solemnity 
and  lamentation.  He  had  collected  a  heap  of  relics 
of  the  saints,  and  these  were  brought  safely  home  to 
Normandy  by  Tostin,  his  chamberlain,  who  seems  to 
have  served  him  faithfully  all  the  way. 


VII. 


THE   NORMANS   IN   ITALY. 


"  And  therefore  must  make  room 
Where  greater  spirits  come." — Marvell. 

There  is  a  famous  old  story  about  Hasting,  the 
viking  captain.  Once  he  went  adventuring  along  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  when  he  came  in 
sight  of  one  of  the  Tuscan  cities,  he  mistook  it  for 
Rome.  Evidently  he  had  enough  learning  to  furnish 
him  with  generous  ideas  about  the  wealth  of  the 
Roman  churches,  but  he  had  brought  only  a  handful 
of  men,  and  the  city  looked  large  and  strong  from 
his  narrow  ship.  There  was  no  use  to  think  of  such 
a  thing  as  laying  siege  to  the  town  ;  such  a  measure 
would  do  hardly  more  than  tease  and  provoke  it :  so 
he  planned  a  sharp  stroke  at  its  very  heart. 

Presently  word  was  carried  from  the  harbor  side,  by 
a  long-faced  and  tearful  sailor,  to  the  pious  priests  of 
the  chief  church,  that  Hasting,  a  Northman,  lay  sick 
unto  death  aboard  his  ship,  and  was  desirous  to  re- 
pent him  of  his  sins  and  be  baptized.  This  was 
promising  better  things  of  the  vikings,  and  the  good 
bishop  visited  Hasting  readily,  and  ministered  eager- 
ly to  his  soul's  distress.  Next  day  word  came  that 
the  robber  was  dead,  and  his  men  brought  him  early 

130 


THE  NORMANS  IN  ITALY.  I3I 

to  the  church  in  his  cofifin,  following  him  in  a  de- 
fenceless, miserable  group.  They  gathered  about 
the  cofifin,  and  the  service  began  ;  the  priests  stood 
in  order  to  chant  and  pray,  their  faces  bowed  low  or 
lifted  heavenward.  Suddenly  up  goes  the  cofifin-lid, 
out  jumps  Hasting,  and  his  men  clutch  at  the  shi- 
ning knives  hidden  under  their'cloaks.  They  strip  the 
jewelled  vestments  from  the  priests'  backs ;  they 
shut  the  church  doors  and  murder  the  poor  men  like 
sheep ;  they  climb  the  high  altar,  and  rob  it  of  its 
decorations  and  sacred  cups  and  candlesticks,  and 
load  themselves  with  wealth.  The  city  has  hardly 
time  to  see  them  dash  by  to  the  harbor  side,  to  hear 
the  news  and  give  them  angry  chase,  before  the  evil 
ships  are  standing  out  to  sea  again,  and  the  pirates 
laugh  and  shout  as  they  tug  at  the  flashing  oars. 
No  more  such  crafty  converts!  the  people  cry,  and 
lift  their  dead  and  dying  priests  sorrowfully  from  the 
blood-stained  floor.  This  was  the  fashion  of  Italy's 
early  acquaintance  with  the  Northmen,  whose  grand- 
children were  to  conquer  wide  dominions  in  Apulia, 
in  Sicily,  and  all  that  pleasant  country  between  the 
inland  seas  of  Italy  and  Greece. 

It  must  have  seemed  almost  as  bad  to  the  Romans 
to  suffer  invasion  of  this  sort  as  it  would  to  us  to 
have  a  horde  of  furious  Esquimaux  come  down  to 
attack  our  coasts.  We  only  need  to  remember  the 
luxury  of  the  Italian  cities,  to  recall  the  great  names 
of  the  day  in  literature  and  art,  in  order  to  contrast 
the  civilization  and  appearance  of  the  invader  and 
'Ihe  invaded.  Yet  war  was  a  constant  presence  then, 
and  every  nation  had  its  bitter  enemies  born  of  race 


132  THE   STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

prejudice  and  the  resentment  of  conquest.  To  be  a 
great  soldier  was  to  be  great  indeed,  and  by  the  time 
of  the  third  of  the  Norman  dukes  the  relation  of 
the  Northmen  and  Italians  was  much  changed. 

Yet  there  was  not  such  a  long  time  between  the 
time  of  Hasting  the  pirate,  and  that  of  Tancred 
de  Hauteville  and  Robert  Guiscard.  Normandy  had 
taken  her  place  as  one  of  the  formidable,  respectable 
European  powers.  The  most  powerful  of  the  fiefs 
of  France,  she  was  an  enemy  to  be  feared  and  hon- 
ored, not  despised.  She  was  loyal  to  the  See  of 
Rome  ;  very  pious  and  charitable  toward  all  religious 
establishments;  no  part  of  Southern  Europe  had 
been  more  diligent  in  building  churches,  in  going  on 
pilgrimage,  in  maintaining  the  honor  of  God  and  her 
own  honor.  Her  knights  prayed  before  they  fought, 
and  they  were  praised  already  in  chronicle  and  song. 
The  troubadours  sflngjiheir  noble  deeds  from  hall  to 
hall.  The  world  looked  on  to  see  their  bravery  and 
valor,  and  when  they  grew  restless  and  went  a-roving 
and  showed  an  increasing  desire  to  extend  their  pos- 
sessions and  make  themselves  lords  of  new  acres,  the 
rest  of  the  world  looked  on  with  envy  and  approval. 
Unless  the  Normans  happened  to  come  their  way ; 
that  of  course  was  ouite  a  different  thing. 

We  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  readiness  of  the 
Englishman  of  to-day  to  form  colonies  and  to  adapt 
himself  to  every  sort  of  climate  and  condition  of  for- 
eign life,  was  anticipated  and  foreboded  in  those 
Norman  settlements  along  the  shores  of  the  Medi- 
terranean sea.  Perhaps  we  should  say  again  that 
the  Northmen  of  a  much  earlier  date  were  the  true 


Til        :  OR  MANS  IN  ITALY.  133 

ancestors  of  all  English  colonists  with  their  roving 
spirit  and  love  of  adventure,  but  the  Normandy  of 
the  early  part  of  the  eleventh  centur\'  was  a  type  of  »^ 
the  England  of  to-day.  Its  power  was  consolidated 
and  the  territory  became  top  narrow  for  so  much 
energy  to  be  pent  up  in.  The  population  increased 
enormously,  and  the  familiar  love  of  conquest  and 
of  seeking  new  fortunes  was  waked  again.  The  bees 
send  out  new  swarms  when  summer  comes,  and,  like 
the  bees,  both  Normans  and  Englishmen  must  have 
a  leader  and  centralization  of  the  general  spirit,  else 
there  is  scattering  and  waste  of  the  common  force. 

We  might  go  on  with  this  homely  illustration  of 
the  bees  to  explain  the  way  in  which  smaller  or 
larger  groups  of  pilgrims,  and  adventurers  of  a  less 
pious  inclination,  had  wandered  southward  and  east- 
ward, toward  the  holy  shrines  of  Jerusalem,  or  the 
rich  harvest  of  Oriental  wealth  and  luxury.  Not 
much  result  came  from  these  enterprises,  though  as 
early  as  1026,  we  find  the  Duke  of  Naples  allowing  a 
company  of  NornTan  wanderers  to  settle  at  Aversa, 
and  even  helping  them  to  build  arid  fortify  the  tovvn^ 
aTid  to  hold  iras~a1HiT3  of  out-post  garrison  against 
his  enemies  in  Capua.  They  were  understood  to  be 
ready  for  all  sorts  of  enterprises,  and  the  bitter  flow- 
ers of  strategy  and  revolt  appeared  to  yield  the 
sweetest  honey  that  any  country-side  could  oiTer. 
They  loved  a  fight,  and  so  they  were  often  called  in 
by  the  different  Italian  princes  and  proved  them- 
selves most  formidable  and  trustworthy  allies  in 
case  of  sudden  troubles.  This  is  what  an  historian  of 
that  time  says  about  them : 


t34  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

"  The  Normans  are  a  cunning  and  revengeful  peo- 
ple;  eloquence  and  dL^-^simulation  appear  to  be  their 
hereditary  qualities.  They  can  stoop  to  flatter;  but 
unless  they  are  curbed  by  the  restraint  of  law  they 
indulge  the  licentiousness  of  nature  and  passion,  and 
in  their  eager  search  for  wealth  and  dominion  they 
despise  whatever  they  possess  and  hope  whatever 
they  desire.  Arms  and  horses,  the  luxury  of  dress, 
the  exercises  of  hawking  and  hunting,  are  the  delight 
of  the  Normans  ;  but  on  pressing  occasions  they  can 
endure  with  incredible  patience  the  inclemency  of 
every  climate,  and  the  toil  and  abstinence  of  a  mili- 
tary life." 

How  we  are  reminded  of  the  old  vikings  in  this 
striking  description  !  and  how  we  see  certain  changes 
that  have  overlaid  the  original  Norse  and  Danish 
nature.  There  are  French  traits  now,  like  a  not  very 
thick  veneering  of  more  delicate  and  polished  wood 
upon  the  sturdy  oak. 

Aversa  was  quickly  made  of  great  importance  to 
that  part  of  the  world.  The  Norman  colony  did 
good  missionary  work,  and  Robert  Guiscard,  the 
chief  Norman  adventurer  and  founder  T5f  the  king- 
dom of  Naples,  was  leader  and'Tnspirer  of  great 
enterprises.  In  following  the  history  of  the  time 
through  many  volumes,  it  is  very  disappointing  to 
find  such  slight  reference  to  this  most  interesting 
episode  in  the  development  of  Norman  civilization. 

In  one  of  the  green  valleys  of  the  Cotentin,  near 
a  small  stream  that  finds  its  way  into  the  river  Dove, 
there  are  still  standing  the  crumbling  walls  of  an 
ancient  Norman  castle.     The  neicfhborine  fields  still 


THE   NORMANS  IN  ITALY.  1 35 

keep  their  old  names  of  the  Park,  the  Forest,  and 
the  Dove-Cot ;  and  in  this  way,  if  in  no  other,  the 
remembrance  is  preserved  of  an  old  feudal  manor- 
house.  Not  long  ago  some  huge  oaks  were  clustered 
in  groups  about  the  estate,  and  there  was  a  little 
church  of  very  early  date  standing  in  the  shade  of  a 
great  cedar  tree.  Its  roof  had  a  warlike-looking 
rampart,  and  a  shapely  tower  with  double  crosses 
lifted  itself  high  against  the  sky. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  eleventh  century  there 
lived  in  this  quiet  place  an  old  Norman  gentleman 
who  was  one  of  Duke  Richard  the  Good's  best 
soldiers.  He  had  wandered  far  and  wide  in  search 
of  gain  and  glory.  The  Duke  had  given  him  com- 
mand of  ten  armed  men  who  formed  his  body-guard, 
and  after  a  long  service  at  court  this  elder  Tancred 
returned  to  his  tranquil  ancestral  home  to  spend  the 
rest  of  his  days.  He  was  poor,  and  he  had  a  very 
large  family.  His  first  wife,  Muriel,  had  left  several 
children,  and  their  good  step-mother  treated  them  all 
with  the  same  tenderness  and  wise  helpfulness  that 
she  had  shown  to  her  own  flock.  The  young  de 
Hautevilles  had  received  such  education  as  gentle- 
men gave  their  children  in  those  days,  and,  above 
every  thing  else,  were  expert  in  the  use  of  arms  and 
of  horses  and  the  pleasures  of  the  chase.  They 
trained  their  falcons,  and  grew  up  brave  and  strong. 
There  were  twelve  sons,  all  trained  to  arms.  Three 
of  the  elder  family  were  named  William,  Drogo,  and 
Humphrey,  and  the  sixth,  their  half-brother,-  was 
R^ert,  who  early  won  for  himself  the  surname  of 
Guisc3.i:d,  or  the  Wise.    Tall  fellows  they  were,  these 


136  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

sons  of  the  Chevalier  de  Hauteville.  One  of  the  old 
French  historians  tells  us  that  they  had  an  air  of 
dignity,  and  even  in  their  youth  great  things  were 
expected  of  them  ;  it  was  easy  to  prophesy  their 
brilliant  future. 

While  they  were  still  hardly  more  than  boys, 
Serlon,  their  eldest  brother,  who  had  already  gone 
to  court,  killed  one  of  Duke  Robert's  gentlemen  who 
had  offered  him  some  insult,  and  was  banished  to 
England  where  he  spent  some  time  in  the  dreariness 
of  exile,  longing  more  and  more  to  get  back  to 
Normandy.  This  brought  great  sorrow  to  the 
household  in  the  Cotentin  valley  ;  it  was  most  likely 
that  a  great  deal  depended  upon  Serlon's  success,  and 
the  eager  boys  at  home  were  looking  to  him  for  their 
own  advancement.  However,  the  disappointment 
was  not  very  long-lived,  for  at  the  time  when  Henry 
of  France  was  likely  to  lose  his  throne  through  the 
intrigues  of  his  brother  and  his  mother,  Constance 
of  Provence,  and  came  to  the  Duke  of  Normandy  for 
aid,  Serlon  came  home  again  without  being  asked, 
and  fought  like  a  tiger  at  the  siege  of  Tillieres.  You 
remember  that  this  siege  lasted  a  long  time,  and  it 
gives  us  a  good  idea  of  the  warfare  of  that  age  to 
discover  that  every  day  there  came  out  of  the  city 
gate  an  awesome  knight  who  challenged  the  con- 
queror to  single  combat.  The  son  of  brave  old 
Tancred  was  not  frightened  by  even  the  sight  of 
those  unlucky  warriors  who  lay  dead  under  the 
challenger's  blows,  and  one  morning  Serlon  went  to 
the  gate  at  daybreak  and  called  the  knight  out  to 
fiCfht  with  him. 


THE  NORMANS  IN  ITALY.  1 37 

The  terrible  enemy  did  not  wait ;  he  presently 
appeared  in  glistening  armor  and  mounted  upon  a 
fiery  steed.  He  asked  Serlon  who  he  was,  and  as  if 
he  knew  by  instinct  that  he  had  met  his  match  at 
last,  counselled  the  champion  of  Normandy  to  run 
away,  and  not  try  to  fight  with  him. 

Nobody  had  recognized  the  banished  man,  who 
carefully  kept  the  visor  of  his  helmet  down  over  his 
face,  and  when  the  fight  was  over  and  the  enemy's 
head  was  off  and  borne  at  the  head  of  his  victorious 
lance,  he  marched  silently  along  the  ranks  of  the 
Norman  knights,  who  were  filled  with  pride  and 
glory,  but  for  all  their  cheering  he  was  still  close- 
helmeted.  Duke  Robert  heard  the  news  of  this 
famous  deed,  and  determined  that  such  a  valiant 
knight  must  not  hide  himself  or  escape,  so  he  sent 
a  messenger  to  command  the  stranger  to  make  him- 
self known.  When  he  found  that  Serlon  himself 
had  been  the  hero,  he  ran  to  meet  him,  and  embraced 
him  and  held  him  to  his  heart,  and  still  more,  gave 
back  to  him  all  the  lands  and  treasures  which  had 
come  to  him  by  his  marriage  and  which  had  been 
confiscated  when  he  was  sent  into  exile.  All  these 
glories  of  their  elder  brother  made  the  other  sons 
more  eager  now  than  ever  to  show  their  prowess, 
but  there  was  slight  chance  in  Normandy,  for  the 
war  lasted  but  little  longer.  But  when  Robert  had 
put  the  French  king  on  his  throne  again,  he  deter- 
mined, as  we  have  seen  already,  to  go  on  a  pilgrim- 
age. There  was  not  much  prospect  of  winning 
great  fame  at  home  while  young  William  the  heir 
was  so  unpopular  and  Alan  of  Brittany  was  his  care- 


138  THE   STORY  OF  THE    NORMANS 

ful  guardian.  The  de  Hautevilles  were  impatient  at 
the  prospect  of  years  of  petty  squabbles  and  treach- 
erous intrigues  ;  they  longed  for  a  broader  field  for 
their  energies.  There  was  no  such  thing  as  staying 
at  home  and  training  the  falcons;  their  hungry  young 
brothers  and  sisters  were  pushing  their  way  already, 
and  the  ancient  patrimony  was  growing  less  and  less. 
So  William  and  Drogo  and  Humphrey  went  away 
to  seek  their  fortunes  like  fairy-book  princes,  and 
hearing  vague  rumors  of  Rainulf's  invitation  to  his 
countrymen,  and  of  his  being  made  count  of  the 
new  possessions  in  Aversa,  they  turned  their  faces 
towards  Italy.  We  cannot  help  lingering  a  moment 
to  fancy  them  as  they  ride  away  from  the  door  of 
their  old  home — the  three  brave  young  men  together. 
The  old  father  looks  after  them  wistfully,  but  his 
eyes  are  afire,  and  he  lives  his  own  youth  over  again 
and  wishes  with  all  his  heart  that  he  were  going  too. 
The  little  sisters  cry,  and  the  younger  brothers  long 
for  the  day  when  their  turn  will  come  to  go  adven- 
turing. The  tame  falcons  flutter  and  peck  at  their 
hoods,  there  where  they  stand  on  their  perches  with 
fettered  claws;  the  grass  runs  in  long  waves  on  the 
green  hill-sides  and  dazzles  the  eyes  that  look  after 
the  sons  as  they  ride  towards  the  south  ;  and  the 
mother  gives  a  little  cry  and  goes  back  into  the  dark 
hall  and  weeps  there  until  she  climbs  the  turret 
stairs  to  see  if  she  cannot  catch  one  more  look  at 
the  straight  backs  and  proud  heads  of  the  young 
knights,  or  even  one  little  glint  of  their  horses' 
trappings  as  they  ride  away  among  the  orchard 
leaves. 


THE  NORMANS  IN  ITAL  Y.  13$ 

They  would  have  to  fight  their  way  as  best  they 
could,  and  when  they  reached  Apulia  at  last  they 
still  found  work  enough  for  their  swords.  South 
of  Rome  were  the  territories  of  the  independent 
counts  of  Naples  and  the  republic  of  Amalfi.  South 
of  these  the  Greek  possessions  of  Lombardy,  which 
had  its  own  governor  and  was  the  last  remnant  of 
the  Eastern  empire. 

The  beautiful  island  of  Sicily  had  been  in  the 
hands  of  the  Moslems  and  belonged  to  the  African 
kingdom  of  Tunis.  In  1038  the  governor  of  Lom- 
bardy believed  he  saw  the  chance  that  he  had  long 
been  waiting  for,  to  add  Sicily  to  his  own  dominions. 
The  Arabs  were  fighting  among  themselves  and  were 
split  up  already  into  several  weak  and  irreconcilable 
factions,  and  he  begged  the  Normans  to  go  and  help 
his  own  army  to  conquer  them.  After  a  while  Sicily 
was  conquered,  but  the  Normans  were  not  given 
their  share  of  the  glory  of  the  victories ;  on  the  con- 
trary, the  Lombard  governor  was  too  avaricious  and 
ungrateful  for  his  own  good,  and  there  was  a  grand 
quarrel  when  the  spoils  Vvcre  divided.  Two  years 
afterwards  the  indignant  Normans  came  marching 
back  to  attack  Apulia,  and  defeated  the  Greeks  at 
Cannae  so  thoroughly  that  they  were  only  left  in 
possession  of  a  few  towns. 

This  was  in  1643,  ^^^  we  cannot  help  feeling  a 
great  satisfaction  at  finding  William  de  Hauteville 


president  of  the  newLtepublic^of" Apulia:.  Had  not 
the1;hree  brothers  shown  their  bravery  and  ability? 
Perhaps  they  had  only  remembered  their  old  father's 
wise  talk,  and  profited  by  his  advice,  and  warning 


14<^  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

lest  they  should  spend  their  strength  by  being  great 
in  little  things  instead  of  aiming  at  nobler  pieces  of 
work.  All  the  high  hopes  which  filled  their  hearts 
as  they  rode  away  from  Normandy  must  have  come 
true.  They  were  already  the  leaders  in  Apulia,  and 
had  been  foremost  in  the  organization  of  an  aristo- 
cratic republic.  Twelve  counts  were  elected  by 
popular  suffrage,  and  lived  at  their  capital  of  Melfi, 
and  settled  their  affairs  in  military  council.  And 
William,  as  I  have  said,  was  president. 

Presently  from  East  and  West  envious  eyes  began 
to  look  at  this  powerful  young  state.  Europe  knew 
well  enough  what  had  come  from  giving  these  Nor- 
mans foothold  in  Gaul  not  so  very  long  ago,  and  the 
Pope  and  the  emperors  of  the  West  and  East  formed 
a  league  to  chase  the  builders  of  this  new  Normandy 
out  of  their  settlements.  The  two  emperors,  how-, 
ever,  were  obliged  to  hurry  back  to  defend  their  own 
strongholds,  and  Leo  the  Tenth  was  left  to  fight  his 
neighbors  alone,  with  the  aid  of  same  German  sol- 
diers, a  mere  handful,  whom  Henry  )me  Third  had  left. 
The  Normans  proposed  fair  terms  to  his  Holiness, 
but  he  ventured  to  fight  the  battle  of  Civitella,  and 
was  overpowered  and  beaten,  and  taken  prisoner 
himself.  Then  the  shrewd  Normans  said  how  grieved 
they  had  been  to  fight  against  the  Father  of  the 
Church,  and  implored  him,  captive  as  he  was,  to 
receive  Apulia  as  a  fief  of  the  Holy  See.  This 
seems  very  puzzling,  until  we  stop  to  think  that  the 
Normans  would  gain  an  established  position  among 
the  Italian  powers,  and  this  amounted  to  an  alliance 
with  the  power  of  the  papal  interests. 


; 


THE  NORMANS  IN  ITALY.  I4I 

William  de  Hauteville  died,  and  the  office  of  presi- 
dent, or  first  count,  passed  to  his  next  brother, 
Drogo,  and  after  him  to  Humphrey.  One  day,  while 
Drogo  was  count,  a  troop  of  pilgrims  appeared  in 
Amalfi,  with  their  wallets  and  staves.  This  was  no 
uncommon  sight,  but  at  the  head  of  the  dusty  com- 
pany marched  a  young  man  somewhere  near  twenty- 
five  years  of  age,  and  of  remarkable  beauty.  The 
high  spirit,  the  proud  nobility  in  his  face,  the  tone 
of  his  voice  even,  showed  him  to  be  an  uncommon 
man  ;  his  fresh  color  and  the  thickness  of  his  blond 
hair  gave  nobody  a  chance  to  think  that  he  had 
come  from  any  of  the  Southern  countries.  Suddenly 
Drogo  recognized  one  of  his  step-brothers,  whom  he 
had  left  at  home  a  slender  boy — this  was  Robert, 
already  called — Gtn^cafdi — He-Tiad  ^gathered  a  re- 
spectable IrttTe^troop  of  followers — five  knights  and 
thirty  men-at-arms  ijiade  his  escort, — and  they  had 
been  forced  to  put  on  some  sort  of  disguise  for  their 
journey,  because  the  court  of  Rome,  jealous  of  the 
growing  powder  of  the  Normans  in  Italy,  did  every 
thing  to  hinder  their  project,  and  refused  permission 
to  cross  their  territories  to  those  who  were  coming 
from  the  North  to  join  the  new  colony.  Humbert  de 
Hauteville  was  with  Robert — indeed  the  whole 
family,  except  Serlon,  went  to  Italy  sooner  or  later 
after  the  old  knight  Tancred  died  ;  even  the  mother 
and  sisters. 

Robert  arrived  in  time  for  the  battle  of  Civitella, 
and  distinguished  himself  amazingly.  Indeed  he 
was  the  inspirer  and  leader  of  the  Norman  successes 
in  the  South,  and  to  him  rather  than  to  either  of  his 


142  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

elder  brothers  belongs  the  glory  of  the  new  Nor- 
mandy. 

His  frank,  pleasant  manners  won  friends  and  fol- 
lowers without  number,  who  loved  him  dearly,  and 
rallied  to  his  standard.  He  was  well  furnished  with 
that  wiliness  and  diplomacy  which  were  needed  to 
cope  with  Southern  enemies,  and  his  wild  ambition 
led  him  on  and  on  without  much  check  from  feelings 
of  pity,  or  even  justice.  Like  many  other  Normans, 
he  was  cruel,  and  his  acts  were  those  of  a  man  who 
sees  his  goal  ahead,  and  marches  straight  toward  it. 
While  William  the  Conqueror  was  getting  ready  to 
wear  the  crown  of  England,  Robert  Guiscard  was 
laying  his  plans  for  the  kingdom  of  the  two  Sicilies. 

After  a  while  Drogo  was  assassinated,  and  then 
Humphrey  was  put  in  his  place,  but  he  and  Robert 
were  always  on  bad  terms  with  each  other  apparently. 
Robert's  faults  were  the  faults  of  his  time,  and  yet 
his  restlessness  and  ambition  seem  to  have  given  his 
brother  great  disquietude  ;  perhaps  Humphrey  feared 
him  as  a  rival,  but  at  any  rate  he  seems  to  have  kept 
him  almost  a  prisoner  of  state.  The  Guiscard  gained 
the  votes  of  the  people  before  long,  when  the  count 
died  and  left  only  some  young  children,  and  in  1054 
he  was  made  Count  of  Apulia  and  general  of  the 
republic.  We  need  not  be  surprised  to  find  his 
title  much  lengthened  a  little  later  ;  he  demanded 
the  ducal  title  itself  from  Pope  Nicholas,  and  styles 
himself  "  by  the  grace  of  God  and  St.  Peter,  Duke 
of  Apulia,  Calabria,  and  hereafter  of  Sicih-."  "  The 
medical  and  philosophical  schools  of  Salerno,  long 
renowned  in  Italy,  added  lustre  to  his  kingdom,  and 


; 


THE  NORMANS  IN  ITALY.  U3 

the  trade  of  Amalfi,  the  earliest  of  the  Itahan  com- 
mercial cities,  extending  to  Africa,  Arabia,  India, 
with  af^liated  colonies  in  Constantinople,  Antioch, 
Jerusalem,  and  Alexandria,  enriched  his  ample  do- 
main. Excelling  in  the  art  of  navigation,  Amalfi  is 
said  to  have  discovered  the  compass.  Under  her 
Norman  dukes,  she  held  the  position  of  the  queen 
of  Italian  commerce,  until  the  rise  of  the  more  famous 
cities  of  Pisa,  Genoa,  and  Venice.* 

Roger  de  Hauteville,  the  youngest  brother  of  all, 
who-was  much  like  Robert  in  every  way,  was  the 
conqueror  of  Sicily,  and  the  expedition  was  piously 
called  a  crusade  against  the  unbelievers.  It  was 
thirty  years  before  the  rich  island  was  added  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  Rome,  from  which  the  Mussulmans 
had  taken  it.  Roger  was  given  the  title  of  count, 
but  his  dominion  was  on  a  feudal  basis  instead  of 
being  a  republic.  This  success  induced  Robert  to 
make  a  campaign  against  the  Eastern  empire,  and 
the  invasions  continued  as  long  as  he  lived.  They 
Avere  not  very  successful  in  themselves,  but  they 
were  influential  in  bringing  about  great  changes. 
The  first  crusade  was  an  outcome  of  these  plans  of 
Robert's,  and  all  the  altered  relations  of  the  East 
and  West  for  years  afterward. 

We  must  go  far  ahead  of  the  slow  pace  of  our  story 
of  the  Normans  in  Normandy  and  England  to  give  this 
brief  sketch  of  the  Southern  dukedoms.  The  story  of 
the  de  Hautevilles  is  only  another  example  of  Nor- 
man daring  and  enterprise.  The  spirit  of  adventure,  of 
conquest,   of  government,   of  chivalry,  and  personal 

*  A.  H.  Johnson  :  "  The  Normans  in  Europe." 


144  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

ambition  shines  in  every  page  of  it,  and  as  time  goes 
on  we  watch  with  joy  a  partial  fading  out  of  the 
worse  characteristics  of  cruelty  and  avarice  and 
trickery,  of  vanity  and  jealous  revenge.  "  Progress 
in  good  government,"  says  Mr.  Green  in  his  preface  to 
A  Short  History  of  England,  "  is  the  result  of  social 
developments."  The  more  we  all  think  about  that, 
the  better  for  us  and  for  our  country.  No  doubt  the 
traditions  of  Hasting  the  Northman  and  his  barba- 
rous piracies  had  hardly  died  out  before  the  later 
Normans  came,  first  in  scattered  groups,  and  then  in  / 
legions,  to  settle  in  Italy.  One  cannot  help  feeling 
that  they  did  much  to  make  amends  for  the  bad 
deeds  of  their  ancestors.  The  south  of  Italy  and 
tne  Sicilian  kingdom  of  Roger  were  under  a  wiser 
and  more  tolerant  rule  than  any  government  of  their  [ 
day,  and  Greeks,  Normans,  and  Italians  lived  to- 
/gether  in  harmony  and  peace  that  was  elsewhere 
unknown.  The  people  were  industrious,  and  all  sorts 
of  trades  flourished,  especially  the  silk  manufacture. 
Perhaps  the  soft  air  and  easy,  luxurious  fashion  of  life 
quieted  the  Norman  restlessness  a  little.  Who  can  tell? 
Yet  we  get  a  hint  of  a  better  explanation  of  the 
prosperity  of  the  two  Sicilies  in  this  passage  from  an 
old  chronicle  about  King  Roger  :  "  He  was  a  lover 
of  justice  and  most  severe  avenger  of  crime.  He 
abhorred  lying  ;  did  every  thing  by  rule,  and  never 
promised  what  he  did  not  mean  to  perform.  He 
never  persecuted  his  private  enemies,  and  in  war 
endeavored  on  all  occasions  to  gain  his  point  without 
shedding  of  blood.  Justice  and  peace  were  univer- 
sally observed  throughout  his  dominions." 


THE  NORMANS  IN  ITALY.  145 

A  more  detailed  account  of  the  reigns  of  the  De 
Hautevilles  will  be  found  in  the  "  Story  of  Sicily,"  but 
before  this  brief  review  of  their  conquests  is  ended,  it 
is  only  fair  to  notice  the  existing  monuments  of 
Norman  rule.  The  remains  of  Norman  architecture, 
dating  back  to  their  time,  may  still  be  seen  in| 
Palermo  and  other  cities,  and  give  them  a  romantic' 
interest.  There  are  ruins  of  monasteries  and  con- 
vents almost^  without  number,  and  many  churches 
still  exist,  though  sometimes  more  or  less  defaced  by 
modern  additions  and  ignorant  restoration.  The 
Norm.ans  raised  the  standard  of  Western  forms  of 
architecture  here  as  they  did  elsewhere,  and  their 
simpler  buildings  make  an  interesting  contrast  with 
Eastern  types  left  by  the  Saracens.  Outside  the 
large  cities  almost  every  little  town  has  at  least  some 
fragments  of  Norman  masonry,  and  in  Aderno — to 
note  only  one  instance  of  the  sort — there  is  a  fine 
Norman  castle  in  excellent  preservation,  which  is 
used  as  a  prison  now.  At  Troina,  a  dreary  moun- 
tain fortress,  there  is  a  belfry  and  part  of  the  wall  of 
a  cathedral  that  Roger  I.  built  in  1078.  It  was  in 
Troina  that  he  and  his  wife  bravely  established  their 
court  fifteen  years  earlier,  and  withstood  a  four 
months'  siege  from  the  Saracens.  Galfridus,  an  old 
chronicler,  tells  sadly  that  the  young  ruleps  only  had 
one  cloak  between  them,  and  grew  very  hungry  and 
miserable  ;  but  Eremburga,  the  wife,  was  uncom- 
plaining and  patient.  At  last  the  count  was  so  dis- 
tressed by  the  sight  of  her  pallor  and  evident 
suffering,  that  he  rallied  his  men  and  made  a  des- 
perate charge  upon  his  foes,  and  was  happily  victo- 


146      THE  STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

rious.  Galfridus  says  of  that  day  :  "  The  single  hand 
of  Roger,  with  God's  help,  did  such  execution  that 
the  corpses  of  the  enemy  lay  around  him  on  every 
side  like  the  branches  of  trees  in  a  thick  forest  when 
strewn  by  a  tempest."  Once  afterward,  when  Roger 
was  away  fighting  in  Calabria,  Eremburga  was  form- 
ally left  in  command,  and  used  to  make  the  round 
with  the  sentinels  on  the  walU  every  night. 

We  must  look  in  Palermo  ^or  the  noblest  monu- 
/  ments  of  Norman  days,  and  beside  the  churches  and 
palaces,  for  the  tombs  of  the  kings  and  archbishops  in 
San  Rosario  Cathedral.  There  lies  Roger  himself, 
"  mighty  Duke  and  first  King  of  Sicily."  Mr.  Symonds 
says*:  "  Very  sombre  and  stately  are  these  porphyry 
resting-places  of  princes  born  in  the  purple,  assembled 
here  from  lands  so  distant,  from  the  craggy  heights 
of  Hohenstauffen,  from  the  green  orchards  of  Coten- 
tin,  from  the  dry  hills  of  Aragon.  They  sleep  and 
the  centuries  pass  by.  Rude  hands  break  open  the 
granite  lids  of  their  sepulchres  to  find  tresses  of  yel- 
low hair,  and  fragments  of  imperial  mantles  em- 
broidered with  the  hawks  and  stags  the  royal  hunter 
loved.  The  church  in  which  they  lie  changes  with 
the  change  of  taste  in  architecture  and  the  manners 
of  successive  ages.  But  the  huge  stone  arks  remain 
unmoved,  guarding  their  freight  of  mouldering  dust 
beneath  gloomy  canopies  of  stone,  that  tempers  the 
sunlight  as  it  streams  from  the  chapel  windows." 

And  again  at  Venosa,  the  little  town  where  the 
poet  Horace  was  born,  and  where  William  de  Haute- 
ville    with    his   brothers    Drogo,     Humphrey,    and 

*"  Studies  in  Soutliern  Italy." 


'Ihn.   jvOkMajv:^  2 IV  ITALY.  14/ 

Robert  Guiscard  are  buried,  we  cannot  do  better 
than  quote  the  same  channing  writer  : 

"  No  chapter  of  history  more  resembles  a  romance 
than  that  which  records  the  sudden  rise  and  brief 
splendor  of  the  house  of  Hauteville.  In  one  gener- 
ation the  sons  of  Tancred  de  Hauteville  passed  from 
the  condition  of  squires  in  the  Norman  vale  of  C6- 
tentin  to  Kinghood  in  the  richest  island  of  the 
Southern  Sea.  The  Norse  adventurers  became 
sultans  of  an  Oriental  capital.  The  sea-robbers 
assumed,  together  with  the  sceptre,  the  culture 
of  an  Arabian  court  .  .  .  lived  to  mate  their 
daughters  with  princes  and  to  sway  the  politics 
of  Europe  with  gold.  .  .  .  What  they  wrought, 
whether  wisely  or  not,  for  the  ultimate  advan- 
tage of  Italy,  endures  to  this  day,  while  the 
work  of  so  many  emperors,  republics*  and  princes, 
has  passed  and  shifted  like  the  scenes  in  a  panto- 
mime. Through  them  the  Greeks,  the  Lombards, 
and  the  Moors  were  extinguished  in  the  South.  The 
Papacy  was  checked  in  its  attempt  to  found  a  prov- 
vince  of  St.  Peter  below  the  Tiber.  The  republics 
of  Naples,  Caeta,  Amalin,  which  might  have  rivalled 
perchance  with  Milan,  Genoa,  and  Florence,  were 
subdued  to  a  master's  hand.  In  short,  to  the  Nor- 
man, Italy  owed  that  kingdom  of  the  two  Sicilies, 
which  formed  one  third  of  her  political  balance  ;  and 
which  proved  the  cause  of  all  her  most  serious 
revolutions." 

Much  has  been  lost  of  the  detailed  history  of  the 
Norman-Italian  states,  and  lost  especially  to  English 
literature.     If   the   development  of  Southern  Italy 


148  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

had  gone  steadily  forward  to  this  time,  with  the 
eagerness  and  gathering  force  that  might  have  been 
expected  from  that  vigorous  impulse  of  the  eleventh 
century,  no  doubt  there  would  have  been  a  perma- 
nent factor  in  history  rather  than  a  limited  epi- 
sode. The  danger  of  the  climate,  to  those  born 
and  reared  in  Northern  or  Western  Europe,  was  un- 
doubtedly in  the  way  of  any  long-continued  prog- 
ress. To-day  the  Norman  buildings  look  strangely 
different  from  their  surroundings,  and  are  almost 
the  only  evidence  of  the  once  brilliant  and  pros- 
perous government  of  the  Normans  in  the  South. 
One  enthusiastic  historian,  who  wrote  before  the 
glories  of  the  de  Hautevilles  had  faded,  would  have 
us  believe  that  "  there  was  more  security  in  the 
thickets  of  Sicily  than  in  the  cities  of  other  king- 
doms." 


VIII. 


THE   YOUTH    OF   WILLIAM    THE    CONQUEROR. 


"  One  equal  temper  of  heroic  hearts 

Made  weak  by  time  and  fate,  but  strong  in  will 

To  strive,  to  seek,  to  find,  and  not  to  yield." 

— Tennyson. 

There  was  one  man,  famous  in  history,  who  more 
than  any  other  Norman  seemed  to  personify  his  race, 
to  be  the  type  of  the  Norman  progressiveness,  firm- 
ness, and  daring.  He  was  not  only  remarkable  among 
his  countrymen,  but  we  are  forced  to  call  him  one  of 
the  great  men  and  great  rulers  of  the  world.  Nobody 
has  been  more  masterful,  to  use  a  good  old  Saxon 
word,  and  therefore  he  came  to  be  master  of  a  power- 
ful, venturesome  race  of  peeple  and  gathered  wealth 
and  widespread  territory.  Every  thing  would  have 
slipped  through  his  fingers  before  he  was  grown  to 
manhood  if  his  grasp  had  not  been  like  steel  and  his 
quickness  and  bravery  equal  to  every  test.  "  He  was 
born  to  be  resisted,"  says  one  writer  ;  '-^  "  to  excite 
men's  jealousy  and  to  awaken  their  life-long  ani- 
mosity, only  to  rise  triumphant  above  them  all, 
and  to  show  to  mankind  the  work  that  one  man 
can  do — one   man  of    fixed  principles  and   resolute 

*  Johnson  ;   "  The  Normans  in  Europe." 

My 


150  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

will,  who  marks  out  a  certain  goal  for  himself. 
and  will  not  be  deterred,  but  marches  steadily 
towards  it  with  firm  and  ruthless  step.  He  was  a 
man  to  be  feared  and  respected,  but  never  to  be 
loved  ;  chosen,  it  would  seem,  by  Providence  .  .  . 
to  upset  our  foregone  conclusions,  and  while  oppos- 
ing and  crushing  popular  heroes  and  national  sympa- 
thies, to  teach  us  that  in  the  progress  of  nations 
there  is  something  required  beyond  popularity, 
something  beyond  mere  purity  and  beauty  of  char- 
acter— namely,  the  mind  to  conceive  and  the  force 
of  will  to  carry  out  great  schemes  and  to  reorganize 
the  failing  institutions  and  political  life  of  states. 
Born  a  bastard,  with  no  title  to  his  dukedom  but  the 
will  of  his  father ;  left  a  minor  with  few  friends  and 
many  enemies,  with  rival  competition  at  home  and  a 
jealous  over-lord  only  too  glad  to  see  the  power  of 
his  proud  vassal  humbled,  he  gradually  fights  his 
way,  gains  his  dukedom,  and  overcomes  competition 
at  an  age  when  most  of  us  are  still  under  tutors  and 
governors  ;  extends  his  dominions  far  beyond  the 
limits  transmitted  to  him  by  his  forefathers,  and  then 
leaves  his  native  soil  to  seek  other  conquests,  to  win 
another  kingdom,  over  which  again  he  has  no  claim 
but  the  stammering  will  of  a  weak  king  and  his  own  irre- 
sistible energy,  and  what  is  still  more  strange,  secur- 
ing the  moral  support  of  the  world  in  his  aggression, 
.and  winning  for  himself  the  position  of  an  aggrieved 
person  recovering  his  just  and  undoubted  rights. 
Truly  the  Normans  could  have  no  better  representa- 
tive of  their  extraordinary  power." 

William  was  only  seven  years  old  or. a  little  more 


WILLIAM  THE    CONQUEROR.  151 

when  his  father  left  him  to  go  on  pilgrimage.  No 
condition  could  have  appeared  more  pitiable  and 
desperate  than  his — even  in  his  childhood  we  become 
conscious  of  the  dislike  his  character  inspired.  Of- 
ten just  and  true  to  his  agreements,  sometimes 
unexpectedly  lenient,  nothing  in  his  nature  made 
him  a  winner  and  holder  of  friendship,  though  he 
was  a  leader  of  men  and  a  controller  of  them,  and  an 
inspirer  of  faithful  loyalty  besides  the  service  ren- 
dered him  for  fear's  sake.  His  was  the  rule  of  force 
indeed,  but  there  is  one  thing  to  be  particularly 
noted— that  in  a  licentious,  immoral  age  he  grew  up 
pure  and  self-controlled.  That  he  did  not  do  some 
bad  things  must  not  make  us  call  him  good,  for  a 
good  man  is  one  who  does  do  good  things.  But  his 
strict  fashion  of  life  kept  his  head  clearer  and  his 
hands  stronger,  and  made  him  wide-awake  when 
other  men  were  stupid,  and  so  again  and  again  he 
was  able  to  seize  an  advantage  and  possess  himself 
of  the  key  to  success. 

While  his  father  lived,  the  barons  paid  the  young 
heir  unwilling  respect,  and  there  was  a  grim  acquies- 
cence in  what  could  not  be  helped.  Alan  of  Brittany 
was  faithful  to  his  trust,  and  always  able  to  check 
any  dissensions  and  plots  against  his  ward.  The  old 
animosity  between  him  and  Robert  was  quite  for- 
gotten, apparently;  but  at  last  Alan  was  poisoned. 
Robert's  death  was  the  signal  for  a  general  uprising 
of  the  nobles,  and  William's  life  was  in  peril  for  a 
dozen  years.  He  never  did  homage  to  the  king  of 
France,  but  for  a  long  time  nobody  did  homage  to 
him    either ;    the   barons    disdained   any  such    alle- 


152  THE   STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

giance,  and  sometimes  appear  to  have  forgotten  their 
young  duke  altogether  in  their  bitter  quarrels,  and 
murders  of  men  of  their  own  rank.  We  trace  Wil- 
liam de  Talvas,  still  the  bastard's  fierce  enemy, 
through  many  plots  and  quarrels ; — it  appears  as  if 
he  were  determined  that  his  curse  should  come  true, 
and  made  it  the  purpose  of  his  life.  The  houses  of 
Montgomery  and  Beaumont  were  linked  with  him 
in  anarchy  and  treachery  ;  it  was  the  Montgomeries' 
deadly  mischief  to  which  the  faithful  Alan  fell  vic- 
tim. William  himself  escaped  assassination  by  a 
chance,  and  several  of  his  young  followers  were  not 
so  fortunate.  They  were  all  in  the  strong  castle  of 
Vaudreuil,  a  place  familiar  to  the  descendants  of 
Longsword,  since  it  was  the  home  of  Sperling,  the 
rich  miller,  whom  Espriota  married.  The  history  of 
the  fortress  had  been  a  history  of  crime,  but  Duke 
Robert  was  ready  to  risk  the  bad  name  for  which  il 
was  famous,  and  trust  his  boy  to  its  shelter.  There 
had  never  been  a  blacker  deed  done  within  those 
walls  than  when  William  was  only  twelve  years  old, 
and  one  of  his  playmates,  who  slept  in  his  chamber, 
was  stabbed  as  he  lay  asleep.  No  doubt  the  Mont- 
gomery who  struck  the  cruel  blow  thought  that  he 
had  killed  the  young  duke,  and  went  away  well  sat- 
isfied ;  but  William  was  rescued,  and  carried  away  and 
hidden  in  a  peasant's  cottage,  while  the  butchery  of 
his-  friends  and  attendants  still  went  on.  The  whole 
country  swarmed  with  his  enemies.  The  population 
of  the  Cotentin,  always  more  Scandinavian  than 
French,  welcomed  the  possibility  of  independence, 
and  the  worst  side  of  feudalism  began  to  assert  itself 


WILLIAM  THE   CONQUEROR.  I  53 

boldly.  Man  against  man,  high  rank  against  low- 
rank,  farmer  against  soldier, — the  bloody  quarrel.-; 
increased  more  and  more,  and  devastated  like  some 
horrible  epidemic. 

There  were  causes  enough  for  trouble  in  the  state 
of  feudalism  itself  to  account  for  most  of  the  uproar 
and  disorder,  let  alone  the  claim  of  the  unwelcome 
young  heir  to  the  dukedom.     It  is  very  interesting 


A    NORMAN    PLOUGHMAN. 


to  see  how,  in  public  sentiment,  there  was  always  an 
undertone  of  resentment  to  the  feudal  system,  and 
of  Loy^alty  to  the  idea,  at  least,  of  hereditary  mon- 
jirchy.  Even  Hugh  the  Great,  of  France,  was  gov- 
erned by  it  in  his  indifference  to  his  good  chances 
for  seizing  the  crown  j'ears  before  this  time ;  and 
though  the  great  empire  of  Charlemagne  had  long 
since  tottered  to  its  fall  and  dismemberment,  there 


154  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

was  still  much  respect   for  the  stability  and  order  of 
an  ideal  monarchical  government. 

The  French  people  had  already  endured  some 
terrible  trials,  but  it  was  not  because  of  war  and 
trouble  alone  that  they  hated  their  rulers,  for  these 
sometimes  leave  better  things  behind  them ;  war 
and  trouble  are  often  the  only  way  to  peace  and 
quietness.  They  feared  the  very  nature  of  feudalism 
and  its  political  power.  It  seemed  to  hold  them 
fast,  and  make  them  slaves  and  prisoners  with  its 
tangled  network  and  clogging  weights.  The  feudal 
lords  were  petty  sovereigns  and  minor  despots,  who 
had  certain  bonds  and  allegiances  among  themselves 
and  with  each  other,  but  they  were,  at  the  same  time, 
absolute  masters  of  their  own  domain,  and  their  sub- 
jects, whether  few  or  many,  were  under  direct  con- 
trol and  surveillance.  Under  the  great  absolute 
monarchies,  the  very  extent  of  the  population  and 
of  the  country  would  give  a  greater  security  and  less 
disturbance  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes,  for  a 
large  army  could  be  drafted,  and  still  there  would  be 
a  certain  lack  of  responsibility  for  a  large  percentage 
of  the  subjects.  Under  the  feudal  system  there 
were  no  such  chances;  the  lords  were  always  at  war, 
and  kept  a  painfully  strict  account  of  their  resources. 
Every  field  and  every  family  must  play  a  part  in  the 
enterprises  of  their  master,  and  a  continual  racking 
and  robbing  went  on.  Even  if  the  lord  of  a  domain 
had  no  personal  quarrel  to  settle,  he  was  likely  to  be 
called  upon  by  his  upholder  and  ally  to  take  part 
with  him  against  another.  In  the  government  of  a 
senate  or  an  ecclesiastical  council,  the  common  peo- 


WILLIAM  THE   CONQUEROR.  I  55 

pic  were  governed  less  capriciously  ;  their  favor  was 
often  sought,  even  in  those  days,  by  the  different 
factions  who  had  ends  to  gain,  and  were  willing  to 
grant  favors  in  return  ;  but  the  feudal  lords  were 
quite  independent,  and  could  do  as  they  pleased 
without  asking  anybody's  advice  or  consent. 

This  concerns  the  relation  of  the  serfs  to  their 
lords,  but  among  the  lords  themselves  affairs  were 
quite  different.  From  the  intricate  formalities  of  obli- 
gation and  dependence,  from  the  necessity  for  each 
feudal  despot's  vigilant  watchfulness  and  careful  prep- 
aration and  self-control  and  quick-sighted  decision, 
arose  a  most  active,  well-developed  class  of  nobles. 
While  the  master  of  a  feudal  castle  (or  robber-strong- 
hold, whichever  we  choose  to  call  it)  was  absent  on 
his  forays,  or  more  determined  wars,  his  wife  took 
his  place,  and  ruled  her  dependents  and  her  house- 
hold with  ability.  The  Norman  women  of  the 
higher  classes  were  already  famous  far  and  wide 
through  Europe,  and,  since  we  are  dealing  with  the 
fortunes  of  Normandy,  we  like  to  picture  them  in 
their  castle-halls  in  all  their  dignity  and  authority, 
and  to  imagine  their  spirited  faces,  and  the  beauty 
which  is  always  a  power,  and  which  some  of  them 
had  learned  already  to  make  a  power  for  good. 

No  matter  how  much  we  deplore  the  condition  of 
Normandy  and  the  lower  classes  of  society,  and 
sympathize  with  the  wistfulness  and  enforced  pa- 
tience of  the  peasantry  ;  no  matter  how  perplexed  we 
are  at  the  slowness  of  development  in  certain  direc- 
tions, we  are  attracted  and  delighted  by  other  as- 
pects.    We  turn  our  heads  quickly  at  the  sound  of 


156  THE   STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

martial  music.  The  very  blood  thrills  and  leaps 
along  our  veins  as  we  watch  the  Norman  knights 
ride  by  along  the  dusty  Roman  roads.  The  spears 
shine  in  the  sunlight,  the  horses  prance,  the  robber- 
castles  clench  their  teeth  and  look  down  from  the 
hills  as  if  they  were  grim  stone  monsters  lying  in 
wait  for  prey.  The  apple-trees  are  in  blossom,  and 
the  children  scramble  out  of  the  horses'  way  ;  the 
flower  of  chivalry  is  out  parading,  and  in  clanking  ar- 
mor, with  flaunting  banners  and  crosses  on  their 
shields,  the  knights  ride  by  to  the  defence  of  Jerusa- 
lem. Knighthood  was  in  its  early  prime,  and  in  this 
gay,  romantic  fashion,  with  tender  songs  to  the  ladies 
they  loved  and  gallantly  defended,  with  a  prayer  to 
the  Virgin  Mary,  their  patroness,  because  they  rever- 
enced the  honor  and  purity  of  womanhood,  they 
fought  through  many  a  fierce  fight,  with  the  bitter, 
steadfast  courage  of  brave  men  whose  heart  is  in 
their  cause.  It  was  an  easy  step  from  their  defiance 
of  the  foes  of  Normandy  to  the  defence  of  the 
Church  of  God.  Religion  itself  was  the  suggester 
and  promoter  of  chivalry,  and  the  Normans  forgot 
their  lesser  quarrels  and  petty  grievances  when  the 
mother  church  held  up  her  wrongs  and  sufferings  to 
their  sympathy.  It  was  to  Christianity  that  the 
mediaeval  times  owed  knighthood,  and,  while  his- 
torians complain  of  the  lawlessness  of  the  age,  the 
crimes  and  violence,  the  social  confusion  and  vulgar- 
ity, still  the  poetry  and  austerity  and  real  beauty  of 
the  knightly  traditions  shine  out  all  the  brighter. 
Men  had  got  hold  of  some  new  suggestions  ;  the 
best  of  them  were  examples  of  something  better  than 


WILLIAM  THE    CONQUEROR. 


157 


the  world  had  ever  known.  As  we  glance  over  the 
list  of  rules  to  which  a  knight  was  obliged  to  sub- 
scribe, we  cannot  help  rejoicing  at  the  new  ideal  of 
christian  manhood. 

Rolf  the  Ganger  had  been  proud  rather  than 
ashamed  of  his  brutal  ferocity  and  selfishness.  This 
new  standard  demands  as  good  soldiery  as  ever  ;  in 
fact,  a  greater  daring  and  utter  absence  of  fear,  but 


ARMING    A    KNIGHT. 


it  recognizes  the  rights  of  other  people,  and  the  sin- 
gle-heartedness and  tenderness  of  moral  strength. 
It  is  a  very  high  ideal. 

A  little  later  than  the  time  of  William  the  Con- 
queror's youth,  there  were  formal  ceremonies  at  the 
making  of  a  knight,  and  these  united  so  surprisingly 
the  poet's  imaginary  knighthood  and  the  customs  of 
military  life  and  obligations  of  religious  life,  that  we 
cannot  wonder  at  their  influence. 


158  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

The  young  man  was  first  stripped  of  his  clothes 
and  put  into  a  bath,  to  wash  all  former  contamina- 
tions from  body  and  soul — a  typical  second  baptism, 
done  by  his  own  free  will  and  desire.  Afterward,  he 
was  clothed  first  in  a  white  tunic,  to  symbolize  his 
purity ;  next  in  a  red  robe,  a  sign  of  the  blood  he 
must  be  ready  to  shed  in  defending  the  cause  of 
Christ ;  and  over  these  garments  was  put  a  tight 
black  gown,  to  represent  the  mystery  of  death  which 
must  be  solved  at  last  by  him,  and  every  man. 

Then  the  black-robed  candidate  was  left  alone  to 
fast  and  pray  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  when  even- 
ing came,  they  led  him  to  the  church  to  pray  all 
night  long,  either  by  himself,  or  with  a  priest  and  his 
own  knightly  sponsors  for  companions.  Next  day 
he  made  confession  ;  then  the  priest  gave  him  the 
sacrament,  and  afterward  he  went  to  hear  mass  and 
a  sermon  about  his  new  life  and  a  knight's  duties. 
When  this  was  over,  a  sword  was  hung  around  his 
neck  and  he  went  to  the  altar,  where  the  priest  took 
off  the  sword,  blessed  it,  and  put  it  on  again.  Then 
the  candidate  went  to  kneel  before  the  lord  who  was 
to  arm  him,  and  was  questioned  strictly  about  his 
reasons  for  becoming  a  knight,  and  was  warned  that 
he  must  not  desire  to  be  rich  or  to  take  his  ease,  or 
to  gain  honor  from  knighthood  without  doing  it 
honor;  at  last  the  young  man  solemnly  promised  to 
do  his  duty,  and  his  over-lord  to  whom  he  did  homage 
granted  his  request  to  be  made  a  knight. 

After  this  the  knights  and  ladies  dressed  him  in 
his  new  garments,  and  the  spurs  came  first  of  all 
the  armor,  then  the  haubert  or  coat  of  mail ;  next 


WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR.  I  59 

the  cuirass,  the  armlets,  and  gauntlets,  and,  last  of  all, 
the  sword.  Now  he  was  ready  for  the  accolade  ;  the 
over-lord  rose  and  went  to  him  and  gave  him  three 
blows  with  the  flat  of  the  sword  on  his  shoulder  or 
neck,  and  sometimes  a  blow  with  the  hand  on  his 
breast,  and  said  :  "  In  the  name  of  God,  of  St.  Michael 
and  St.  George,  I  make  thee  knight.  Be  valiant  and 
fearless  and  loyal." 

Then  his  horse  was  led  in,  and  a  helmet  was  put 
on  the  new  knight's  head,  and  he  mounted  quicklv 
and  flourished  his  lance  and  sword,  and  went  out  of 
the  church  to  show  himself  to  the  people  gathered 
outside,  and  there  was  a  great  cheering,  and  pranc- 
ing of  horses,  and  so  the  outward  ceremony  was 
over,  and  he  was  a  dubbed  knight,  as  the  old  phrase 
has  it — adopted  knight  would  mean  the  same  thing 
to-day  ;  he  belonged  to  the  great  Christian  brother- 
hood of  chivalry.  We  have  seen  how  large  a  part 
religion  played  in  the  rites  and  ceremonies,  but  we 
can  get  even  a  closer  look  at  the  spirit  of  knighthood 
if  we  read  some  of  the  oaths  that  were  taken  by 
these  young  men,  who  were  the  guardians  and 
scholars  of  whatever  makes  for  peace,  even  while 
they  chose  the  ways  of  war  and  did  such  eager,  de- 
voted work  with  their  swords.  M.  Guizot,  from 
whose  "  History  of  France  "  I  have  taken  the  greater 
part  of  this  description,  goes  on  to  give  twenty-six 
articles  to  which  the  knights  swore,  not  that  these 
made  a  single  ritual,  but  were  gathered  from  the  ac- 
counts of  different  epochs.  They  are  so  interesting, 
as  showing  the  steady  growth  and  development  of 
better  ideas   and  purposes,  that   I   copy  them  here. 


l60  THE  ST  OR  V  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

Indeed  we  can  hardly  understand  the  later  Norman 
history,  and  the  crusades  particularly,  unless  we 
make  the  knights  as  clear  to  ourselves  as  we  tried  to 
make  the  vikings. 

We  must  thank  the  clergymen  of  the  tenth  and  elev- 
enth centuries  for  this  new  thought  about  the  duties 
and  relationships  of  humanity, — men  like  Abelard 
and  St.  Anselm,  and  the  best  of  their  contempor- 
aries. It  is  most  interesting  to  see  how  the  church 
availed  herself  of  the  feudal  bonds  and  sympathies 
of  men,  and  their  warlike  sentiment  and  organization, 
to  develop  a  better  and  more  peaceful  service  of 
Qo^.  Truthfulness  and  justice  and  purity  were 
taught  by  the  church's  influence,  and  licentiousness 
and  brutality  faded  out  as  the  new  order  of  things 
gained  strength  and  brightness.  Later  the  pendu- 
lum swung  backward,  and  the  church  used  all  the 
terrors  of  tyranny,  fire,  and  sword,  to  further  her 
ends  and  emphasize  her  authority,  instead  of  the 
authority  of  God's  truth  and  the  peace  of  heavenly 
living.  The  church  became  a  name  and  cover  for 
the  ambitions  of  men. 

Whatever  the  pretences  and  mockeries  and  rival- 
ries and  thefts  of  authority  may  be  on  the  part  of 
unworthy  churchmen,  we  hardly  need  to  remind 
ourselves  that  in  every  age  the  true  church  exists, 
and  that  true  saints  are  living  their  holy,  helpful 
lives,  however  shadowed  and  concealed.  Even  if 
the  harvest  of  grain  in  any  year  is  called  a  total  loss, 
and  the  country  never  suffered  so  much  before  from 
dearth,  there  is  always  enough  wheat  or  corn  to  plant 
the   next   spring,  and   the  fewer  handfuls  the  more 


WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR.  l6l 

precious  it  is  sure  to  seem.  In  this  eleventh  cen- 
tury, a  century  which  in  many  ways  was  so  disor- 
derly and  cruel,  we  are  always  conscious  of  the  pres^ 
ence  of  the  "blameless  knights''  who  went  boldly 
to  the  fight  ;  the  priests  and  monks  of  God  who  hid 
themselves  and  prayed  in  cell  and  cloister.  "  It  was 
feudal  knighthood  and  Christianity  together,"  says 
Guizot,  "  which  produced  the  two  great  and  glorious 
events  of  that  time — the  Norman  conquest  of  Eng- 
land, and  the  Crusades." 

These  were  the  knight's  promises  and  oaths  as 
Guizot  repeats  them,  and  we  shall  get  no  harm  from 
reading  them  carefully  and  trying  to  keep  them  our- 
selves, even  though  all  our  battles  are  of  another 
sort  and  much  duller  fights  against  temptations.  It 
must  be  said  that  our  enemies  often  come  riding 
down  upon  us  in  as  fine  away  and  break  a  lance  with 
us  in  as  magnificent  a  fashion  as  in  the  days  of  the 
old  tournaments.  But  our  contests  are  apt  to  be 
more  like  the  ancient  encounters  with  cruel  treach- 
ery of  wild  beasts  in  desert  places,  than  like  those  at 
the  gay  jousts,  with  all  the  shining  knights  and 
ladies  looking  on  to  admire  and  praise. 

The  candidates  swore :  First,  to  fear,  reverence, 
and  serve  God  religiously,  to  fight  for  the  faith  with 
all  their  might,  and  to  die  a  thousand  deaths  rather 
than  renounce  Christianity ; 

To  serve  their  sovereign  prince  faithfully,  and  to 
fight  for  him  and  fatherland  right  valiantly ; 

To  uphold  the  rights  of  the  weaker,  such  as 
widows,  orphans,  a'nd  damsels,  in  fair  quarrel,  ex- 
posing themselves  on  that  account  according  as  need 


1 62  THE  STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

might  be,  provided  it  were  not  against  their  own 
honor  or  against  their  king  or  lawful  princes. 

That  they  would  not  injure  any  one  maliciously, 
or  take  what  was  another's,  but  would  rather  do  bat- 
tle with  those  who  did  so. 

That  greed,  pay,  gain,  or  profit  should  never  con- 
strain them  to  do  any  deed,  but  only  glory  and  vir- 
tue. 

That  they  would  fight  for  the  good  and  advan- 
tage of  the  common  weal. 

That  they  would  be  bound  by  and  obey  the  orders 
of  their  generals  and  captains,  who  had  a  right  to 
command  them. 

That  they  would  guard  the  honor,  rank,  and  order 
of  their  comrades,  and  that  they  would,  neither  b\' 
arrogance  nor  by  force,  commit  any  trespass  against 
any  one  of  them. 

That  they  would  never  fight  in  companies  against 
one,  and  that  they  would  eschew  all  tricks  and 
artifices. 

That  they  would  wear  but  one  sword,  unless  they 
had  to  fight  against  two  or  more  enemies. 

That  in  tourney  or  other  sportive  contests,  they 
would  never  use  the  point  of  their  swords. 

That  being  taken  prisoner  in  a  tourney,  they 
would  be  bound  on  their  faith  and  honor  to  perform 
in  every  point  the  conditions  of  capture,  besides 
being  bound  to  give  up  to  the  victors  their  arms  and 
horses,  if  it  seemed  good  to  take  them,  being  also 
disabled  from  fighting  in  war  or  elsewhere  without 
their  victor's  leave. 

That  they  would  keep  faith  inviokibly  with  all  the 


WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR.  1 63 

world,  and  especially  with  their  comrades,  upholding 
their  honor  and  advantage  wholly  in  their  absence. 

That  they  would  love  and  honor  one  another,  and 
aid  and  succor  one  another  whenever  occasion  offered. 

That  having  made  vow  or  promise  to  go  on  any 
quest  or  adventure,  they  would  never  put  off  their 
arms  save  for  the  night's  rest. 

That  in  pursuit  of  their  quest  or  adventure,  they 
would  not  shun  bad  and  perilous  passes,  nor  turn 
aside  from  the  straight  road  for  fear  of  encountering 
powerful  knights,  or  monsters,  or  wild  beasts,  or 
other  hindrance,  such  as  the  body  and  courage  of  a 
single  man  might  tackle. 

That  they  would  never  take  wage  or  pay  from  any 
foreign  prince. 

That  in  command  of  troops  or  men-at-arms,  they 
would  live  in  the  utmost  possible  order  and  disci- 
pline, and  especially  in  their  own  country,  where  they 
would  never  suffer  any  harm  or  violence  to  be  done. 

That  if  they  were  bound  to  escort  dame  or  dam- 
sel, they  would  serve,  protect,  and  save  her  from  all 
danger  and  insult,  or  die  in  the  attempt. 

That  they  w^ould  never  offer  violence  to  any  dame 
or  damsel,  though  they  had  won  her  by  deeds  of 
arms. 

That  being  challenged  to  equal  combat,  they 
would  not  refuse  without  wound,  sickness,  or  other 
reasonable  hindrance. 

That,  having  undertaken  to  carry  out  any  enter- 
prise, they  would  devote  to  it  night  and  day,  unless 
they  were  called  away  for  the  service  of  their  king 
and  country. 


164  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

That,  if  they  made  a  vow  to  acquire  any  honor, 
they  would  not  draw  back  without  having  attained 
it  or  its  equivalent. 

That  they  would  be  faithful  keepers  of  their  word 
and  pledged  faith,  and  that,  having  become  prisoners 
in  fair  warfare,  they  would  pay  to  the  uttermost  the 
promised  ransom,  or  return  to  prison  at  the  day  and 
hour  agreed  upon,  on  pain  of  being  proclaimed  infa- 
mous and  perjured. 

That,  on  returning  to  the  court  of  their  sovereign, 
they  would  render  a  true  account  of  their  adventures, 
even  though  they  had  sometimes  been  worsted,  to 
the  king  and  the  registrar  of  the  order,  on  pain  of 
being  deprived  of  the  order  of  knighthood. 

That,  above  all  things,  they  would  be  faithful, 
courteous,  and  humble,  and  would  never  be  wanting 
to  their  word  for  any  harm  or  loss  that  might  accrue 
to  them." 

It  would  not  do  to  take  these  holy  principles,  or 
the  pageant  of  knight-errantr}%  for  a  picture  of 
Normandy  in  general.  We  can  only  remind  our- 
selves with  satisfaction  that  this  leaven  was  working 
in  the  mass  of  turbulent,  vindictive  society.  The 
priests  worked  very  hard  to  keep  their  hold  upon 
their  people,  and  the  authority  of  the  church  proved 
equal  to  many  a  subtle  weakness  of  faith  and  quick 
strain  of  disloyalt}'.  We  should  find  it  difificult  to 
match  the  amazing  control  of  the  state  by  the 
church  in  any  other  country, — even  in  the  most 
superstitiously  devout  epochs.  When  the  priest- 
hood could  not  make  the  Normans  promise  to  keep 
the  peace  altogether,  they  still  obtained  an  astonish- 


WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR.  1 65 

ing  concession  and  truce.  There  was  no  figliting 
from  Wednesday  evening  at  sunset  until  Monday 
morning  at  sunrise.  During  these  five  nights  and 
four  days  no  fighting,  burning,  robbing,  or  plunder- 
ing could  go  on,  though  for  the  three  days  and  two 
nights  left  of  the  week  any  violence  and  crime  were 
not  only  pardonable,  but  allowed.  In  this  Truce  of 
God,  not  only  the  days  of  Christ's  Last  Supper, 
Passion,  and  Resurrection  were  to  remain  undese- 
crated,  but  longer  periods  of  time,  such  as  from  the 
first  day  of  Advent  until  the  Epiphany,  and  other 
holy  seasons.  If  the  laws  of  the  Truce  were  broken, 
there  were  heavy  penalties :  thirty  years'  hard  pen- 
ance in  exile  for  the  contrite  offender,  and  he  must 
make  reparation  for  all  the  evil  he  had  committed, 
and  repay  his  debt  for  all  the  spoil.  If  he  died  un- 
repentant, he  was  denied  Christian  burial  and  all  the 
offices  of  the  church,  and  his  body  was  given  to  wild 
beasts  and  the  fowls  of  the  air. 

To  be  sure,  the  more  ungodly  portion  of  the  citi- 
zens fought  against  such  strict  regulations,  and 
called  those  knights  whom  the  priests  armed,  "  cits 
without  spirit,"  and  even  harder  names,  but  for 
twelve  years  the  Truce  was  kept.  The  free  days  for 
murder  and  theft  were  evidently  made  the  most  of, 
and  from  what  we  can  discover,  it  appears  as  if  the 
Normans  used  the  Truce  days  for  plotting  rather 
than  for  praying.  Yet  it  was  plain  that  the  world 
was  getting  ready  for  great  things,  and  that  great 
emergencies  were  beginning  to  make  themselves 
evident.  New  ideas  were  on  the  wing,  and  in 
spite  of  the  despotism  of  the  church,  sometimes  by 


1 66  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

very  reason  of  it,  we  can  see  that  men  were  breaking 
their  intellectual  fetters  and  becoming  freer  and 
wiser.  A  new  order  of  things  was  coming  in  ;  there 
was  that  certain  development  of  Christian  ideas,  which 
reconciles  the  student  of  history  in  every  age  to  the 
constant  pain  and  perplexity  of  watching  misdirected 
energies  and  hindering  blunders  and  follies. 

"  It  often  happens  that  popular  emotions,  however 
deep  and  general,  remain  barren,  just  as  in  the 
vegetable  world  many  sprouts  come  to  the  surface 
of  the  ground,  and  then  die  without  growing  any 
more  or  bearing  any  fruit.  It  is  not  sufficient  for 
the  bringing  about  of  great  events  and  practical 
results,  that  popular  aspirations  should  be  merely 
manifested  ;  it  is  necessary  further  that  some  great 
soul,  some  powerful  will,  should  make  itself  the 
organ  and  agent  of  the  public  sentiment,  and  bring 
it  to  fecundity,  by  becoming  its  type — its  personifi- 
cation." * 

In  the  middle  of  this  eleventhcentury,  the  time  of 
William  the  Conqueror's  youth,  the  opposing  ele- 
/ments  of  Christian  knighthood,  and  the  fighting 
L__s£irit_gf_the  viking  blood,  were  each  to  find  a  cham- 
pion in  the  same  leader.  The  }'oung  duke's  early 
years  were  a  hard  training,  and  from  his  loveless 
babyhood  to  his  unwept  death,  he  had  the  bitter 
sorrows  that  belong  to  the  life  of  a  cruel  man  and 
much-feared  tyrant.  It  may  seem  to  be  a  strange 
claim  to  make  for  William  the  Conqueror — that  he 
represented  Christian  knighthood — but  we  must  re- 
member th;it  fighting  was  almost  the  first  duty  of 
*  Guizot. 


WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR. 


167 


man  in  those  days,  and  that  this  greatest  of  the 
Norman  dukes,  with  all  his  brutality  and  apparent 
heartlessness  and  selfishness,  believed  in  his  church, 


CONFERRING    KNIGHTHOOD    ON    THE    FIELD    OF    BATTLE. 


and  kept  many  of  her  laws  which  most  of  his  com- 
rades broke  as  a  matter  of  course.  We  cannot 
remind  ourselves  too   often  that  he  was  a  man  of 


1 68  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

pure  life  in  a  most  unbridled  and  immoral  age,  if  we 
judge  by  our  present  standards  of  either  purity  or 
immorality.  There  is  always  a  temptation  in  reading 
or  writing  about  people  who  lived  in  earlier  times,  to 
rank  them  according  to  our  own  laws  of  morality 
and  etiquette,  but  the  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  get 
a  clear  idea  of  the  time  in  question.  The  hero  of 
Charlemagne's  time  or  the  Conqueror's  may  prove 
any  thing  but  a  hero  in  our  eyes,  but  we  must  take 
him  in  relation  to  his  own  surroundings.  The  great 
laws  of  truth  and  justice  and  kindness  remain,  while 
the  years  come  and  go  ;  the  promises  of  God  endure, 
but  while  there  is,  as  one  may  say,  a  common  law  of 
heavenly  ordering,  there  are  also  the  various  statute 
laws  that  vary  with  time  and  place,  and  these  forever 
change  as  men  change,  and  the  light  of  civilization 
burns  brighter  and  clearer. 

In  William  the  Conqueror's  lifetime,  every  landed 
gentleman  fortified  his  house  against  his  neighbors, 
and  even  made  a  secure  and  loathsome  prison  in  his 
cellar  for  their  frequent  accommodation.  This  seems 
inhospitable,  to  say  the  least,  and  gives  a  tinge  of 
falseness  to  such  tender  admonitions  as  prevailed  in 
regard  to  charity  and  treatment  of  wayfarers.  Yet 
every  rich  man  was  ambitious  to  go  down  to  fame 
as  a  benefactor  of  the  church  ;  all  over  Normandy 
and  Brittany  there  was  a  new  growth  of  religious 
houses,  and  those  of  an  earlier  date,  which  had  lain 
in  ruins  since  the  Northmen's  time,  were  rebuilt 
with  pious  care.  There  appears  to  have  been  a  new 
awakening  of  religious  interest  in  the  year  looo, 
which    lasted  late  into  the   century.     There  was  a 


WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR.  1 69 

surprising  fear  and  anticipation  of  the  end  of  the 
world,  which  led  to  a  vast  number  of  penitential 
deeds  of  devotion,  and  it  was  the  same  during  the 
two  or  three  years  after  1030,  at  the  close  of  the  life 
of  King  Robert  of  France. 

Normandy  and  all  the  neighboring  countries  were 
scourged  by  even  worse  plagues  than  the  feudal 
wars.  The  drought  was  terrible,  and  the  famine 
which  followed  desolated  the  land  everywhere.  The 
trees  and  fields  were  scorched  and  shrivelled,  and  the 
poor  peasants  fought  with  the  wild  beasts  for  dead 
bodies  that  had  fallen  by  the  roadside  and  in  the 
forests.  Sometimes  men  killed  their  comrades  for 
very  hunger,  like  wolves.  There  was  no  commerce 
which  could  supply  the  failure  of  one  country's  crops 
with  the  overflow  of  another's  at  the  other  side  of  the 
world,  but  at  last  the  rain  fell  in  France,  and  the 
misery  was  ended.  A  thousand  votive  offerings  were 
made  for  very  thankfulness,  for  again  the  people  had 
expected  the  end  of  the  world,  and  it  had  seemed 
most  probable  that  such  an  arid  earth  should  be  near 
its  final  burning  and  desolation. 

In  the  towns,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  there 
was  a  style  of  living  that  was  almost  luxurious.  The 
Normans  were  skilful  architects,  and  not  only  their 
minsters  and  monasteries,  but  their  houses  too,  were 
fit  for  such  proud  inhabitants,  and  rich  with  hangings 
and  comfortable  furnishings.  The  women  were 
more  famous  than  ever  for  needlework,  some  of  it 
most  skilful  in  design,  and  the  great  tapestries  are 
yet  in  existence -that  were  hung,  partly  for  warmth's 
sake,  about  >the  stone, walls  of  the  castles.     Some- 


lyo  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

times  the  noble  ladies  who  sat  at  home  while  their  • 
lords  went  out  to  the  wars,  worked  great  pictures  on 
these  tapestries  of  various  events  of  family  history, 
and  these  family  records  of  battles  and  gallant 
bravery  by  land  and  sea  are  most  interesting  now 
for  their  costume  and  color,  beside  their  corrobora- 
tion of  historical  traditions. 

We  have  drifted  away,  in  this  chapter,  from  Wil- 
liam the  Conqueror  himself,  but  I  believe  that  we 
know  more  about  the  Normandy  which  he  was  to 
govern,  and  can  better  understand  his  ambitions,  his 
difficulties,  and  his  successes. /^  A  country  of  priests 
and  soldiers,  of  beautiful  women  and  gallant  men  ; 
a  social  atmosphere  already  alive  with  light,  gayety, 
and  brightness,  but  swayed  with  pride  and  supersti- 
tion, with  worldliness  and  austerity ;  loyal  to  Rome, 
greedy  for  new  territory,  the  feudal  lords  imperious 
masters  of  complaining  yet  valiant  serfs  ;  racked 
everywhere  by  civil  feuds  and  petty  wars  and  in- 
stinctive jealousies  of  French  and  foreign  blood — this 
was  Normandy^  The  Englishmen  come  and  go  and 
learn  good  manners  and  the  customs  of  chivalry, 
England  herself  is  growing  rich  and  stupid,  for 
Harthacnut  had  introduced  a  damaging  custom  of 
eating  four  great  meals  a  day,  and  his  subjects  had 
followed  the  fashion,  though  that  king  himself  had 
died  of  it  and  of  his  other  habit  of  drinking  all 
night  long  with  merry  companions. 

y 


IX. 

ACROSS   THE   CHANNEL. 
" One  decree 


Spake  laws  to  them,  and  said  that,  by  the  soul 
Only,  the  nations  should  be  great  and  free." 

— Wordsworth. 

It  is  time  to  take  a  closer  look  at  England  and  at 
the  shameful  degradations  of  yEthelred's  time.  The 
inroads  of  the  Danes  read  like  the  early  history  of 
Normandy,  and  we  must  take  a  step  backward  in  the 
condition  of  civilization  when  we  cross  to  the  other 
side  of  the  Channel.  There  had  been  great  changes 
since  ALlired's  wise  and  prosperous  reign,  or  even 
since  the  time  of  yEthelred's  predecessor,  Eadgar, 
who  was  rowed  in  his  royal-barge  at  Chester  by 
eight  of  his  vassal  kings — Kenneth  of  Scots,  Mal- 
colm of  Cumberland,  Maccus  of  the  Isles,  and  five 
Welsh  monarchs.  The  lord  of  Britain  was  gracious 
enough  to  do  the  steering  for  so  noble  a  company  of 
oarsmen,  and  it  was  considered  the  proudest  day 
that  ever  had  shone  upon  an  English  king. 

We  must  remind  ourselves  of  the  successive  waves 
of  humanity  which  had  overspread  England  in  past 
ages,  leaving  traces  of  each  like  less  evident  geologic 

171 


1^2  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

strata.  From  the  stone  and  bronze  age  people, 
through  the  Celts  with  their  Pictish  and  Scottish 
remnant,  through  the  Roman  invasion,  and  the 
Saxon,  more  powerful  and  enduring  than  any  from 
our  point  of  view,  we  may  trace  a  kinship  to  our 
Normans  across  the  water.  But  the  English  de- 
scendants of  Celts,  Danes,  Angles,  Saxons,  and  Jutes 
needed  to  feel  a  new  influence  and  refreshing  of  their 
better  instincts  by  way  of  Normandy. 

Perhaps  each  one  of  the  later  rulers  of  Britain 
thought  he  had  fallen  upon  as  hard  and  stormy 
times  and  had  as  much  responsibility  as  anybody 
who  ever  wielded  a  sceptre,  but  in  the  reign  of 
the  second  yEthelred,  there  are  much  greater  dramas 
being  played,  and  we  feel,  directly  we  get  a 
hint  of  it,  as  children  do  who  have  been  loitering 
among  petty  side-shows  on  their  way  to  a  great  play. 
Here  come  the  Danes  again,  the  kings  of  Denmark 
and  the  whole  population  of  Norway  one  would 
think,  to  read  the  records,  and  this  time  they  attack 
England  with  such  force  and  determination  that 
within  less  than  forty  years  a  Danish  king  is  master 
of  Britain. 

If  ^thelred  had  been  a  better  man  this  might 
never  have  happened,  but  among  all  the  Saxon 
kings  he  seems  to  have  been  the  worst — thoroughly 
bad,  weak,  cowardly,  and  cruel.  He  was  sure  to  do 
things  he  had  better  have  left  alone,  and  to  neglect 
his  plain  duty.  Other  kings  had  fallen  on  as  hard, 
perplexing  times  as  he,  but  they  had  been  strong 
enough  to  keep  some  sort  of  control  of  themselves  at 
any  rate.     Dunstan  the  archbishop  warned  the  peo- 


ACROSS    THE   CHANNEL.  173 

pie,  when  ^thelred  was  crowned,  that  they  had  no 
idea  of  the  trouble  that  was  coming,  and  through 
the  whole  reign  things  went  from  bad  to  worse. 
Dreadful  things  happened  which  we  can  hardly  blame 
the  silly  king  for — like  a  plague  among  cattle,  and 
the  burning  of  London  in  982  ;  and  a  few  years  after- 
ward there  was  a  terrible  invasion  of  the  Norwegians, 
and  we  have  seen  that  aid  and  comfort  were  ready  for 
them  over  in  Bayeux  and  the  pirate  cities  of  Nor- 
mandy. 

Now  we  first  hear  of  the  Danegelt,  great  sums  of 
money,  always  doubling  and  increasing,  that  were 
paid  the  Northmen  as  bribes  to  go  away  and  leave 
England  in  peace.  The  paying  of  this  Danegelt  be- 
came a  greater  load  than  the  nation  could  carry,  for 
the  pirates  liked  nothing  better  than  to  gather  a 
great  fleet  of  ships  every  few  months  and  come  to 
anchor  off  the  coast,  sending  a  messenger  to  make 
the  highwayman's  favorite  request,  your  money  or 
your  life !  One  of  the  first  sums  boldly  demanded 
of  ^thelred's  aldermen  was  ten  thousand  pounds. 
We  can  see  how  rapidly  the  wealth  of  England 
had  increased,  for  in  Alfred's  time  the  fine  for 
killing  a  king  was  a  hundred  and  twenty  shillings, 
and  this  was  considered  a  great  sum  of  money ;  the 
penalty  for  taking  a  peasant's  life  was  only  five 
shillings,  which  makes  us  understand,  without  any 
doilbt,  the  scarceness  and  value  of  money.  Here 
are  some  extracts  from  the  English  chronicle,  which 
had  been  kept  since  Bede's  time  and  for  many  years 
after  this,  which  will  show  how  miserably  every  thing 
was  going  on  ; 


174  THE   STORY  OF    THE  NORMANS. 

looi.  "The  army  [the  Danes  of  course]  went 
over  the  land  and  did  as  was  their  wont.  Slew  and 
burned  ...  it  was  sad  in  every  way  for  they 
never  ceased  from  their  evil." 

I002.  "  In  this  year  the  king  and  his  witan  resolved, 
that  tribute  would  be  paid  and  peace  made  with 
them,  on  condition  that  they  should  cease  from  their 
evil.     This  they  accepted  and  were  paid,  ;^ 24,000. 

1006.  "  At  midwinter  the  Winchester  folk  might 
see  an  insolent  and  fearless  army  as  they  went  by 
their  gate  to  the  sea,  and  fetched  them  food  and 
treasure  over  fifty  miles  from  the  sea.  Then  was 
there  so  great  awe  of  the  army  that  no  one  could 
think  or  devise  how  they  should  be  driven  from  the 
country.  Every  shire  in  Wessex  had  they  cruelly 
marked  with  burning  and  with  harrying.  The  king 
began  then  with  his  witan  earnestly  to  consider  what 
might  seem  most  advisable  to  them  all,  so  that  the 
country  might  be  protected  ere  it  were  at  last  un- 
done." This  time  the  tribute  was  ^^"36,000,  and  an- 
other time  the  ships  put  to  sea  with  a  Danegelt  of 
;^48,ooo. 

England  grew  more  and  more  miserable  and 
shamefully  unable  to  defend  herself,  the  captains 
of  her  fleet  were  incapable  or  treacherous,  and 
at  last,  when  some  of  the  ships  had  been  wrecked 
and  there  had  been  some  sad  disasters  at  sea,  the 
chronicle  has  a  more  despairing  tone  than  ever.  "  It 
was  as  if  all  counsel  had  come  to  an  end,"  the  writer 
says,  "  and  the  king  and  aldermen  and  all  the  high 
witan  went  home,  and  let  the  toil  of  all  the  nation 
lightly  perish." 


ACROSS    THE   CHANNEL.  1 75 

^thelred  the  Unready  won  for  himself,  in  his 
reign  of  thirty-eight  years,  the  hearty  contempt  and 
distrust  of  all  his  people.  There  is  a  temptation  to 
blame  him  for  the  misery  of  England,  and  to  at- 
tribute it  all  to  his  faults  and  to  the  low  aims  and 
standards  of  his  character,  to  his  worthless  ambitions. 
But,  in  a  general  way,  the  great  men,  or  notorious 
men  of  history,  who  stand  out  before  a  dim  and  half- 
forgotten  background,  are  only  typical  of  their  time 
and  representative  of  it.  One  very  good  man,  or 
bad  man,  cannot  be  absolutely  a  single  specimen  of 
his  kind  ;  there  must  be  others  who  rank  with  him, 
and  who  have  been  his  upholders  and  influencers.  So 
while  the  story  of  any  nation  is  in  its  early  chapters, 
and  seems  to  be  merely  an  account  of  one  ruler  or 
statesman  after  another,  we  must  not  forget  that 
each  symbolized  his  day  and  generation, — a  brave 
leader  of  a  brave  race,  or  a  dull  or  placid  or  serene 
representative  of  a  secure,  inactive  age. 

Although  there  was  blundering  enough  and 
treachery  in  yEthelred's  reign,  there  was  a  splendid 
exception  in  the  victories  and  steadfastness  of  the 
city  of  London,  which  was  unsuccessfully  attacked 
again  and  again  by  the  Danes.  The  heathen,  as 
the  English  called  their  enemies,  were  lucky  in  their 
two  leaders,  the  king  of  Norway,  and  the  king  of 
Denmark.  Olaf,  the  first-named,  was  converted 
after  a  while,  and  going  from  the  islands  of  Orkney 
to  England,  he  was  baptized  there,  and  the  English 
bishops  were  very  kind  to  him,  and  ^thelred  gave 
him  some  presents,  and  made  him  promise  that  he 
would   not  come  plundering  to  England  any  more. 


176  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

We  are  quite  surprised  to  hear  that  the  promise  was 
kept.  Swegen  the  Dane  promised  too,  but  he  ap- 
peared again  after  a  while,  and  /Ethelred  thought  he 
would  improve  upon  the  fashion  of  paying  Dane- 
gelt  by  ordering  a  general  massacre  of  all  the  Danes 
instead.  Afterward  somebody  tried  to  excuse  such 
a  piece  of  barbarianism  by  saying  that  the  Danes  had 
plotted  against  the  king,  but  even  if  they  had, 
yEthclred  showed  a  wretched  spirit.  It  was  a  time 
of  peace,  but  he  sent  secret  messengers  all  through 
the  country,  and  as  the  English  were  only  too  glad 
to  carry  out  such  orders,  there  was  a  terrible 
slaughter  of  men,  women,  and  children.  "^ 

Next  year  Swegen  came  back  to  avenge  the  wrong, 
all  the  more  readily  because  his  own  sister  and  her 
husband  and  son  were  among  the  murdered,  and  the 
poor  woman  had  made  a  prophecy,  as  she  fell,  dying, 
that  misery  and  vengeance  should  fall  upon  the  Eng- 
lish for  their  sins.  For  a  long  time  afterward  the 
Danes  were  very  fierce  and  kept  England  in  fear  and 
disorder.  Once  they  laid  siege  to  Canterbury,  and 
when  it  had  fallen  into  their  hands  they  demanded 
Danegelt  from  the  Archbishop,  a  very  good  old 
man.  He  had  a  heart  full  of  pity  for  his  poor 
people  already  so  abominably  taxed  and  oppressed 
in  every  way,  and  was  brave  enough  to  squarely  re- 
fuse, so  the  Danes  slew  him  .with  horrible  torture ; 
one  might  tell  many  such  stories  of  the  cruelty 
and  boldness  of  the  invaders.  /Ethelred  was  per- 
fectly helpless  or  else  cowardly  and  indifferent,  and 
presently  Swegen,  who  had  gone  back  to  the  North 
returned  with  a  great  fleet  and  a  swarm  of  followers, 


ACKOSS    THE    CHANNEL.  I'J'J 

and  not  long  afterward  he  .conquered  every  sort  of 
opposition,  even  that  of  the  brave  Londoners,  and 
was  proclaimed  king  of  England.  Here  was  a 
change  indeed  !  the  silly  Saxon  king  and  his  wife 
and  children  fled  across  the  sea  to  Normandy,  and 
Swegen  sat  upon  the  throne.  He  began  to  reign  in 
splendid  state  ;  he  had  the  handsomest  ships  afloat, 
all  decked  out  with  figures  of  men  and  birds  and 
beasts  wrought  in  silver  and  amber  and  gold,  and 
fine  decorations  of  every  sort.  No  doubt  he  had 
made  fine  plans  and  meant  to  do  great  deeds,  but  he 
died  suddenly  within  a  very  short  time,  and  the  peo- 
ple believed  he  was  frightened  to  death  by  a  vision. 
^'Ethelred  was  in  Normandy  at  the  court  of  Richard 
the  Fearless.  You  remember  that  Richard's  sis- 
ter Emma  went  over  to  England  to  marry  the  un- 
ready king.  yEthelred  had  one  older  son,  Eadmund 
Ironside,  beside  the  two  boys  who  were  Emma's 
children,  and  the  hearts  of  the  English  turned  to 
their  old  king,  and  at  last  they  sent  for  him  to  come 
back,  in  spite  of  his  faults.  Pie  made  many  fine 
promises,  and  seems  to  have  done  a  great  deal  better 
most  of  the  time  during  the  last  two  years  that  he 
lived.  Perhaps  he  had  taken  some  good  lessons  from 
the  Norman  court.  But  Cnut,  Swegen's  son,  came 
back  to  England,  just  before  he  died,  as  fearless  as  a 
hawk,  and  led  his  men  from  one  victory  to  another, 
and  ^thelred  faded  out  of  life  to  everybody's  relief. 
When  he  was  dead  at  last,  the  witan  chose  Cnut 
for  king  in  his  stead,  but  the  Londoners,  who  were 
rich  and  strong,  and  who  hated  the  Danes  bitterly — 
the  Londoners  would  have  none  of  the  pirates  to 


178  THE   STORY  OF    THE  NORMANS. 

reign  over  them,  and  elected  young  Eadmund  Iron, 
side,  a  valiant  soldier  and  loyal-hearted  fellow  who 
feared  nothing  and  was  ready  to  dare  every  thing. 
The  two  young  kings  were  well  matched  and  fought 
six  great  battles,  in  most  of  which  Ironside  gained 
the  advantage,  but  at  last  the  Danes  beat  him  back- 
and  though  everybody  was  ready  for  a  seventh  bat- 
tle, the  witan  showed  their  wisdom  for  once  and  for- 
bade any  more  fighting,  and  somehow  managed  to 
proclaim  peace.  The  young  kings  treated  each  other 
most  generously,  and  called  each  other  brother,  and 
were  very  cordial  and  good-natured.  They  agreed 
to  divide  the  kingdom,  so  that  Eadmund  Ironside  had 
all  England  south  of  the  Thames — East  Anglia  and 
Essex  and  London.  Cnut  took  all  the  northern 
country  and  owned  Eadmund  for  his  over-lord,  but 
within  the  year  Cnut  reigned  alone.  Eadmund 
died  suddenly — some  say  that  he  was  murdered,  and 
some  that  he  had  worn  himself  out  with  his  tremen- 
dous activity  and  anxiety.  It  is  a  great  temptation 
to  follow  out  the  story  of  such  a  man,  and  especially 
because  he  lived  in  such  an  important  time,  but  we 
must  hurry  now  to  the  point  where  Norman  and 
English  history  can  be  told  together,  and  only  stop 
to  explain  such  things  as  will  make  us  able  to  under- 
stand and  take  sides  in  the  alliance  of  the  two  vigor- 
ous, growing  nations. 

Cnut's  life,  too,  is  endlessly  interesting.     He  be- 
gan by  behaving  like  a  pirate,  and  the  latter  part 
of  his  reign  was  a  great  reform  and  a  very  comforta- 
*  ble  time  for  England,  so  scarred  and  spoiled  by  war. 
In  the  beginning  there  was  a  great  question   about 


ACROSS    THE  CHANNEL.  1 79 

the  kingship.  In  those  days  it  was  a  matter  of  great 
importance  that  the  king  should  be  able  to  rule  and 
able  to  fight,  and  the  best  and  most  powerful  mem- 
ber of  the  royal  family  was  the  proper  one  to  choose. 


KING   CNUT. 

(From  the  Register  of  Hyde  Abbey.) 

The  English  for  a  long  time  had  elected  their  kings, 
and  Cnut,  though  he  held  half  the  country,  was 
very   careful   not   to   seize   the    rest   by  force.     We 


l8o  THE   STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS.  ^ 

watch  with  great  interest  his  wielding  of  rude  poli- 
tics before  the  witan  ;  he  called  them  into  council 
and  laid  his  claim  before  them. 

Eadmund  Ironside  had  left  two  little  sons,  but  no- 
body thought  of  their  being  his  successors.  Indeed 
Cnut  showed  a  great  fear  of  the  royal  family,  and 
took  care  that  his  rivals  should  be  disposed  of ;  he 
knew  that  the  witan  and  everybody  else  were  tired 
of  the  everlasting  war  and  bloodshed.  He  was  fierce 
and  downright  in  his  demands,  and  in  the  end  the 
heirs  of  Ironside  were  all  passed  over — the  Athelings 
or  princes  were  all  set  aside,  and  Cnut  the  Dane 
was  king  of  England. 

Ironside's  brother,  Eadwy,  of  whom  the  best  things 
are  said,  was  outlawed,  and  died  within  a  few  months 
under  very  suspicious  circumstances.  The  two  little 
boys,  Ironside's  sons,  were  sent  out  of  the  country 
to  Cnut's  half-brother,  the  king  of  Sweden,  with 
orders  that  they, should  be  put  out  of  the  way.  The 
king  felt  such  pity  for  the  innocent  children,  that  he 
sent  them  away  to  Hungary  instead  of  having  them 
murdered.  The  Hungarian  king,  Stephen,  was  a 
saint  and  a  hero,  and  he  was  very  kind  to  the  poor 
exiles,  and  brought  them  up  carefully.  One  died 
young,  but  we  shall  hear  again  about  the  other. 

Cnut  did  a  very  surprising  thing  next.  He  sent 
for  Queen  Emma  to  come  back  again  from  the  Nor- 
man court  to  marry  him.  She.  must  have  been  a 
good  deal  older  than  he,  but  she  was  still  a  beautiful 
woman,  and  marked  with  the  f;unous  Norman 
dignity  and  grace.  Cnut  ]:)romiscd  that  if  they 
should  ever  have  a  son  born,  he  should  be  the  next 


ACROSS   THE   CHANNEL.  l8l 

king  of  England.  Emma's  two  elder  sons,  yElfred 
and  Eadward,  were  left  in  Normand)-,  and  there  they 
grew  up  quite  apart  from  their  mother,  and  thinking 
much  more  of  their  Norman  descent  and  belonging 
than  of  their  English  heritage, 

Cnut  now  appears  in  the  light  of  a  model  sov- 
ereign for  those  days.  He  had  renounced  all  his 
pagan  ideas,  and  been  christened  and  received  into 
the  Church.  We  might  expect  that  he  would  have 
pushed  his  own  countrymen  forward  and  all  the  Dan- 
ish interests,  but  it  was  quite  the  other  way.  At 
the  beginning  of  his  reign  he  had  executed  several 
powerful  English  nobles  whose  influence  and  antago- 
nism he  had  reason  to  fear;  but  now  he  favored  the 
English  in  a  marked  way,  and  even  ordered  his  ships 
and  all  the  pirates  and  fighting  men  back  to  the 
North.  It  seems  very  strange,  now,  that  a  king  of 
England  ever  reigned  over  Sweden  and  Denmark, 
and  Norway  beside,  but  it  seems  as  if  Cnut  were 
prouder  of  being  king  of  England  than  of  all  his 
other  powers  and  dignities.  He  was  not  only  very 
gracious  and  friendly  with  his  English  subjects  at 
home,  but  he  sent  them  abroad  to  be  bishops,  and 
displeased  the  Danish  parishes  by  such  arrange- 
ments. 

We  all  know  the  story  of  the  rising  tide,  and 
Cnut's  reproof  to  his  courtiers  on  the  sea-shore. 
As  we  read  about  him  we  are  reminded  a  little  of 
Rolf  the  Ganger,  and  his  growth  from  pirate  fashions 
to  a  more  gentle  and  decent  humanity.  The  two 
men  were  not  so  very  unlike  after  all,  but  I  must 
confess  that  I  think  with  a  good  deal  of  sympathy 


1 82  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

of  Cnut's  decision  to  go  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome. 
It  was  expecting  a  good  deal  of  the  young  sea-rover 
that  he  should  stay  quietly  at  home  to  rule  his  king- 
dom. The  spirit  of  adventure  stirred  in  his  veins, 
and  we  may  be  sure  that  he  enjoyed  his  long  and 
perilous  overland  journey  to  Italy.  He  made  the 
road  safer  for  his  countrymen  who  might  also  have 
a  pious  desire  to  worship  at  the  famous  foreign 
shrines.  He  complained  to  the  emperor  and  the 
priests  at  Rome  about  the  robber-chiefs  who  pounced 
down  upon  travellers  from  their  castles  in  the  Alps, 
and  they  promised  to  keep  better  order.  The 
merchants  and  pilgrims  were  often  laden  with  rich 
offerings  for  the  churches,  besides  goods  which  they 
wished  to  sell,  and  the  robbers  kept  watch  for  them. 
Their  ruined  fortresses  are  still  perched  along  the 
Alpine  passes,  and  one  cannot  help  hoping  that 
Cnut  had  some  exciting  disputes  with  his  enemies, 
and  a  taste  of  useful  fighting  and  proper  discipline 
among  the  bold  marauders. 

He  wrote  a  famous  letter  about  his  pilgrimage, 
directed  to  the  archbishops,  and  bishops,  the  great 
men,  and  all  the  people.  He  tells  whom  he  saw  in 
Rome — the  Pope,  and  the  German  Emperor,  and 
other  great  lords  of  the  earth  ;  and  says,  with  pride, 
that  every  one  has  treated  him  handsomely,  and  what 
fine  presents  he  has  had  given  him  to  carry  home. 
He  had  come  to  Rome  for  the  good  of  his  people, 
and  for  the  salvation  of  his  own  soul,  he  tells  them 
seriously;  and  one  thing  he  did  for  England  was  to 
complain  of  the  heavy  taxes  the  church  had  put 
upon  it,  and  the  Pope  promised  that  such  injustice 


ACROSS  THE  CHANNEL.  1 83 

should  not  happen  any  more.  There  is  something 
very  touching  in  the  way  that  he  says  he  had  made 
a  great  many  good  resolves  about  his  future  life,  and 
that  he  is  not  ashamed  to  own  that  he  has  done 
wrong  over  and  over  again,  but  he  means,  by  God's 
help,  to  amend  entirely.  He  vows  to  Heaven  that 
he  will  govern  his  life  rightly,  and  rule  his  kingdom 
honestly  and  piously,  and  that  neither  rich  nor  poor 
shall  be  oppressed  or  hardshipped.  There  never 
was  a  better  letter,  altogether,  and  Cnut  kept  his 
promises  so  well  that  the  old  Anglo-Saxon  chronicle, 
which  aches  with  stories  of  war  and  trouble,  grows 
quite  dull  now  in  the  later  years  of  his  reign.  There 
was  nothing  to  tell  any  more,  the  monks  thought 
who  kept  the  record  ;  but  we  know,  for  that  very 
reason,  that  the  English  farms  flourished,  and  the 
wheat  fields  waved  in  the  summer  wind,  the  towns 
grew  rich,  and  the  merchants  prosperous ;  and  when 
the  English-Northman  king  died,  it  was  a  sad  day 
for  England.  Cnut  was  only  forty  years  old,  but 
that  was  a  long  time  for  a  king  to  live.  His  son, 
Harold  Harefoot,  reigned  in  his  stead,  and  many 
of  the  old  troubles  of  the  country  sprang  up 
at  once,  as  if  they  had  only  been  asleep  for  a 
little  while,  and  were  by  no  means  out-grown  or 
ended.  "^ 

Harold  Harefoot  was  not  in  the  least  pious,  and 
behaved  himself  with  most  unreasonable  folly,  and 
fortunately  died  at  the  close  of  four  years  of  insult 
and  unworthiness.  Then  Harthacnut,  the  younger 
brother,  was  made  king,  and  he  promptly  demanded 
a   Danegelt,   the    most    hateful    of    taxes,    and    did 


\y 


1 84  THE   STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

a  great  many  things  which  only  reopened  the  breach 
between  Dane  and  Englishman,  though  it  had  seemed 
to  be  smoothed  over  somewhat  in  his  father's  time. 
Harold  had  done  one  brutal  thing  that  towered 
above  all  the  rest.  The  two  princes  who  had  been 
living  in  Normandy  thought  there  might  be  some 
chance  of  their  gaining  a  right  to  the  throne,  and  the 
younger  one,  Alfred,  had  come  over  to  England  with 
his  knights  and  gentlemen.  Harold  seized  them  and 
was  most  cruel  ;  he  first  blinded  his  half-brother  and 
then  had  him  put  to  death.  This  made  a  great 
noise  in  Normandy,  and  there  is  one  good  thing  to 
be  said  about  Harthacnut,  that  he  was  bitterly  angry 
with  his  brother,  and  also  with  Earl  Godwine,  a  fa- 
mous nobleman,  who  was  the  most  powerful  man  in 
England  next  the  king.  He  was  Cnut's  favorite 
and  chief  adviser,  but  Harthacnut  suspected  that  he 
had  a  hand  in  Alfred's  murder.  Nobody  has  ever 
been  quite  clear  about  the  matter.  Godwine  and  all 
his  lords  swore  that  he  was  innocent,  and  gave  the 
king  a  magnificent  ship  with  all  sorts  of  splendors 
belonging  to  it,  besides  nearly  a  hundred  men  in  full 
armor,  and  gold  bracelets  to  make  them  as  grand  as 
could  be.  So  the  king  accepted  Godwine's  oath  in 
view  of  such  a  polite  attention,  but  he  asked  Eadward 
to  leave  the  Norman  court  and  come  over  to  live 
with  him.  Eadward  came,  and  in  two  years  he  was 
king  of  England,  Harthacnut  having  died  a  wretched 
drunken  death. 

So  again  there  was  a  descendant  of  Alfred  the 
Great  and  the  house  of  Cerdic  on  the  throne.  Ead- 
ward was  the  last  of  the  line,  and  in  his  day  began 


ACROSS   THE  CHANNEL.  1 85 

the  most  exciting  and  important  chapter  of  EngUsh 
history — the  Norman  Conquest. 

We  have  come  quickly  along  the  line  of  Danish 
kings,  and  now  it  is  time  to  stop  and  take  a  more 
careful  look  at  the  state  of  manners  and  customs  in 
England,  and  make  ourselves  sure  what  the  English 
people  of  that  time  were  like,  how  they  lived  in  their 
houses,  and  what  changes  had  come  to  the  country 
in  general.  There  were  certain  hindrances  to  civili- 
zation, and  lacks  of  a  fitting  progress  and  true 
growth.  Let  us  see  what  these  things  were,  and 
how  the  greater  refinement  of  the  Normans,  their 
superior  gifts  and  graces,  must  come  into  play  a  little 
later.  There  was  some  deep  meaning  in  the  fusion 
of  the  two  peoples,  and  more  than  one  reason  why 
they  could  form  a  greater  nation  together  than  either 
Normans  or  Englishmen  could  alone. 

First,  the  dwellers  on  English  soil  had  shown  a 
tendency,  not  yet  entirely  outgrown,  to  fall  back  into 
a  too  great  indulgence  in  luxurious  living.  When 
the  storm  and  strain  of  conquest,  of  colonization,  had 
spent  itself,  the  Englishmen  of  Eadward's  and  Cnut's 
time  betook  themselves  to  feasting  and  lawlessness, 
of  the  sort  that  must  undermine  the  vigor  of  any 
people.  The  fat  of  the  land  tempted  them  in  many 
ways,  and  they  sank  under  such  habits  as  quickly  as 
they  had  risen  under  the  necessities  that  war  makes 
for  sacrifices  and  temperance.  They  were  suffering, 
too,  from  their  insularity ;  they  were  taken  up  with 
their  own  affairs,  and  had  kept  apart  from  the  prog- 
ress of  the  rest  of  Europe.  There  was  a  new  wave 
and  impulse  of  scholarship,  which  had  not  yet  reached 


1 86  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

them.  It  was  ebb-tide  in  England  in  more  ways 
than  one  ;  and  time  for  those  Normans  to  appear 
who,  to  use  the  words  of  one  of  their  historians, 
"  borrow  every  thing  and  make  it  their  own,  and 
their  presence  is  chiefly  felt  in  increased  activity  and 
more  rapid  development  of  institutions,  literature, 
and  art.  Thus  .  .  .  they  perfect,  they  organize 
every  thing,  and  everywhere  appear  to  be  the  master 
spirits  of  their  age." 

The  English  people  had  become  so  impatient  of 
the  misrule  of  Cnut's  sons,  that  the  remembrance 
of  Cnut's  glories  was  set  aside  for  the  time  being, 
and  no  more  Danish  kings  were  desired.  "  All  folk 
chose  Eadward  to  king,"  says  the  chronicle,  and  evi- 
dently the  hearts  of  the  people  were  turned,  full  of 
hope  and  affection,  to  the  exiled  son  of  ^thelred  and 
Emma,  who  had  been  since  his  childhood  at  the 
Norman  court.  His  murdered  brother  Alfred  had 
been  canonized  by  the  romantic  sympathy  of  his 
English  friends ;  he  was  remembered  now  as  a  saint- 
ly young  martyr  to  English  patriotism,  and  the  dis- 
reputable reign  of  Cnut's  sons  had  made  the  vir- 
tues of  the  ancient  race  of  English  kings  very  bright 
by  comparison.  The  new  king  must  be  of  English 
blood  and  a  link  with  past  prosperity.  The  son  of 
Eadmund  Ironside  was  an  exile  also  in  the  distant 
court  of  Hungar)^  but  Eadward,  a  gentle,  pious  man, 
was  near  at  hand,  and  there  were  a  thousand  voices 
ready  to  shout  for  him  even  while  Harthacnut  lay 
unburied  in  the  royal  robes  and  trappings. 

There  was  an  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  Danes, 
who  were  naturally  disinclined  to  any  such  change, 


ACROSS  THE  CHANNEL.  1 87 

and  when  the  formal  election  and  consecration  of  the 
new  king  took  place,  some  months  after  this  popular 
vote,  all  Earl  Godwine's  power  and  influence  were 
brought  to  bear  before  certain  important  votes 
could  be  won.  Indeed,  at  first  Eadward  himself  was 
apparently  hard  to  persuade  to  accept  his  high  ofifice. 
He  seems  to  have  been  much  more  inclined  to  a 
religious  life  than  to  statesmanship,  but  between 
much  pushing  from  behind  in  Normandy  and  the 
eager  entreaties  of  his  English  friends,  he  was  forced 
to  make  his  way  again  across  the  Channel.  There 
are  interesting  accounts,  which  may  or  may  not  be 
true,  of  his  conversations  with  Godwine;  but  the 
stronger  man  prevailed.  The  very  promise  he  made 
to  uphold  the  new  king's  rights  might  make  Eadward 
feel  assured  and  hopeful  of  some  stability  and  quiet- 
ness in  his  reign.  England  was  far  behind  Normandy 
in  social  or  scholarly  progress  ;  to  reign  over  English- 
men did  not  appear  the  most  rewarding  or  alluring 
career  to  the  fastidious,  delicate,  cloister-man,  .  The 
rough-heartiness  and  red-cheeked  faces  of  his  sub- 
jects must  have  contrasted  poorly  with  his  Norman 
belongings,  so  much  more  refined  and  thoughtful, 
not  to  say  adroit  and  dissembling.  England  was 
still  divided  into  four  parts,  as  Cnut  had  left  it. 
His  scheme  of  the  four  great  earldoms  had  proved  a 
bad  one  enough,  for  it  had  only  made  the  nation 
weaker,  and  kept  up  continual  rivalries  and  jealousies 
between  the  lords  of  Northumbria,  Mercia,  East 
Anglia,  and  Wessex.  The  northern  territory  was 
chiefly  Danish  in  its  traditions,  and  though  there  was 
a  nominal  subjection  to  the  king,  Northumbria  was 


1 88  THE   STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

almost  wholly  independent  of  any  over-rule.  In 
Mercia,  Lady  Godiva  and  Earl  Leofric  were  spending 
their  lives  and  their  great  wealth,  chiefly  in  further- 
ing all  sorts  of  religious  houses  and  good  works  of 
the  churches. 

The  greatest  earl  of  all  was  Godwine  of  Wessex, 
the  true  leader  of  the  English  and  a  most  brave  and 
loyal  man.  Cnut  had  trusted  him,  and  while  there 
were  enough  jealous  eyes  to  look  at  his  kingly  pros- 
perity, and  malicious  tongues  ready  to  whisper  about 
his  knowledge  of  young  Alfred's  murder,  or  his  favor 
and  unrighteous  advancement  of  his  own  family  to 
places  of  power,  Godwine  still  held  the  confidence 
of  a  great  faction  among  the  English  people.  His 
son  Harold  was  earl  of  East  Anglia,  and  they  were 
lawful  governors,  between  them,  of  the  whole  south- 
ern part  of  the  kingdom.  It  was  mainly  through 
Godwine's  influence  that  Eadward  was  crowned  king, 
and  we  may  look  to  the  same  cause  for  his  marriage 
with  the  earl's  daughter  Edith,  but  the  line  of  Eng- 
lish princes,  of  whom  Godwine  hoped  to  be  ancestor, 
never  appeared,  for  the  king  was  childless,  and  soon 
made  an  enemy  of  his  father-in-law.  Some  people 
say  that  Godwine  did  not  treat  his  royal  son  with 
much  respect  having  once  put  him  on  the  throne. 
Eadward  too  never  was  able  to  forget  the  suspicion 
about  .Alfred's  murder,  so  the  breach  between  him  and 
the  great  earl  was  widened  year  by  year.  Eadward  was 
not  the  sturdy  English  monarch  for  whom  his  peo- 
ple had  hoped  ;  he  was  Norman  at  heart,  as  a  man 
might  well  be  who  had  learned  to  speak  in  the  for- 
eign tongue,  and  had  made  the  friendships   of  his 


ACROSS  THE  CHANNEL.  1 89 

boyhood  and  manhood  in  the  duke's  court  and  cloi- 
sters. Priestcraft  was  dearer  to  him  than  statecraft, 
and  his  name  of  The  Confessor  showed  what  almost 
saintly  renown  he  had  won  from  those  who  were  his 
friends  and  upholders. 

It  did  not  suit  very  well  that  one  Norman  gentle- 
man after  another  came  to  London  to  fill  some  high 
ofificial  position.  Eadward  appeared  to  wish  to  sur- 
round himself  wholly  with  Normans,  and  the  whole 
aspect  of  the  English  court  was  changed  little  by 
little.  The  king  proved  his  own  weakness  in  every 
way — he  was  as  like  .^thelred  the  Unready  as  a  good 
man  could  be  like  a  bad  one. 

Godwine  grew  more  and  more  angry,  and  his  de- 
termination to  show  that  England  could  do  without 
the  crowds  of  interlopers  who  were  having  every 
thing  their  own  way  worked  him  disaster  for  a  time. 
There  was  a  party  of  the  king's  friends  journeying 
homeward  to  Normandy,  who  stopped  overnight  in 
the  city  of  Dover  and  demanded  its  hospitality  in  inso- 
lent fashion.  The  Dover  men  would  not  be  treated 
like  slaves,  and  a  fight  followed  in  which  the  French- 
men were  either  killed  or  driven  out  of  the  town. 
Eadward.  of  course  sided  with  his  friends,  and  was 
very  indignant ;  he  sent  orders  to  Earl  Godwine,  who 
was  governor  of  the  region,  to  punish  the  offenders, 
but  Godwine  refused  squarely  unless  the  men  should 
have  been  fairly  tried  and  given  a  chance  to  speak 
for  themselves.  This  ended  in  a  serious  quarrel,  and 
the  king  gained  a  victory  without  any  battle  either, 
for  there  was  a  sudden  shifting  of  public  feeling  in 
Eadward's  favor — Godwine's  own  men  forsook  him 


190      THE   STORY   OF  THE  NORMANS. 

and  were  loyal  to  the  crown,  and  the  great  earl  was 
banished  for  conscience  sake,  he  and  all  his  family, 
for  the  king  even  sent  away  his  own  wife,  though  he 
kept  all  her  lands  and  treasures,  which  was  not  so 
saint-like  and  unworldly  as  one  might  have  expected. 
One  of  Godwine's  sons  had  proved  himself  a  very 
base  and  treacherous  man,  and  the  earl  had  shielded 
him  ;  this  was  one  reason  why  his  defence  of  Eng- 
lish liberty  was  so  overlooked  by  his  countrymen, 
but  the  Normans  had  a  great  triumph  over  this  de- 
feat, and  praised  the  pious  king  and  told  long  stories 
of  his  austere  life,  his  prayers,  and  holy  life.  After 
he  was  canonized  these  stories  were  lengthened  still 
more,  but  while  he  was  yet  without  a  halo  some  of 
his  contemporaries  charge  him  with  laziness  and  in- 
capacity. He  certainly  was  lacking  in  kingly  quali- 
ties, but  he  gained  the  respect  and  love  of  many  of 
his  subjects,  and  was  no  doubt  as  good  as  so 
weak  a  man  could  be.  After  his  death  Englishmen 
praised  him  the  more  because  they  liked  William  the 
Conqueror  the  less,  and  as  for  the  Normans  they 
liked  anybody  better  than  Harold,  who  had  been  a 
much  more  formidable  opponent  in  his  claim  to  the 

English   crown.     Mr.  Freeman    says :  " — The 

duties  of  secular  government  .  .  .  were  .  .  . 
always  something  which  went  against  the  grain. 
His  natural  place  was  not  on  the  throne  of  England, 
'  but  at  the  head  of  a  Norman  abbey.  .  .  .  For 
his  virtues  were  those  of  a  monk ;  all  the  real  man 
came  out  in  his  zeal  for  collecting  relics,  in  his 
visions,  in  his  religious  exercises,  in  his  gifts  to 
churches  and  monasteries,  in  his  desire  to  mark  his 


ACROSS  THE  CHANNEL.  I9I 

reign  as  its  chief  result,  by  the  foundation  of  his 
great  abbey  of  Saint  Peter  at  Westminster.  In  a 
Tjrince  of  the  manly  piety  of  Alfred  things  of  this 
sort  form  only  a  part,  a  pleasing  and  harmonious  part, 
of  the  general  character.  In  Eadward  they  formed 
the  whole  man." 

The  chronicler  who  writes  most  flatteringly  of  him 
acknowledges  that  he  sometimes  had  shocking  fits 
of  bad  temper,  but  that  he  was  never  betrayed  into 
unbecoming  language.  On  some  occasions  he  was 
hardly  held  back  by  Godwine  or  Harold  from  civil 
war  and  massacre ;  though  he  was  conscientious  within 
the  limit  of  his  intelligence,  and  had  the  art  of  giving 
a  gracious  refusal  and  the  habit  of  affability  and  good 
manners.  William  of  Malmesbury,  the  chronicler, 
tells  us  that  he  kept  his  royal  dignity,  but  that  he 
took  no  pleasure  in  w^earing  his  robes  of  state,  even 
though  they  were  worked  for  him  by  his  affectionate 
queen.  Like  his  father,  he  was  ever  under  the  do- 
minion of  favorites,  and  this  was  quickly  enough 
discovered  and  played  upon  by  Norman  ecclesiastics 
and  Norman  and  Breton  gentlemen  in  search  of  ad- 
venture; and  aggrandizement.  It  makes  a  great 
difference  whether  we  read  the  story  of  this  time  in 
English  or  in  French  records.  Often  the  stories  are 
directly  opposite  to  each  other,  and  only  the  most 
careful  steps  along  the  path  k'eep  one  from  wander- 
ing off  one  way  or  the  other  into  unjust  partisan- 
ship. Especially  is  this  true  of  Godwine,  the  confes-- 
sor's  great  contemporary.  He  seems,  at  any  rate,  to 
have  been  a  man  much  ahead  of  his  time  in  knowl- 
edge of  affairs  and   foresight  of  the  probable  effects 


192  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

from  the  causes  of  his  own  day.  His  brother  earls 
were  jealous  of  him  ;  the  Church  complained  of  his 
lack  of  generosity  ;  even  his  acknowledgfcd  eloquence 
was  listened  to  incredulously  ;  and  hie  good  govern- 
ment of  his  own  provinces,  praised  though  it  was,  did 
not  gain  him  steady  power.  His  good  government 
made  him,  perhaps  more  than  any  thing  else,  the  fore- 
most Englishman  of  his  time,  and  presently  we  shall 
see  how  deep  a  feeling  there  was  for  him  in  Eng- 
land, and  how  much  confidence  and  affection  were 
shown  in  his  welcome  back  from  exile,  though  he 
had  been  allowed  to  go  away  with  such  sullen  disap- 
proval. Godwine's  wife,  Gytha,  was  a  Danish  wo- 
man, which  was  probably  a  closer  link  with  that 
faction  in  the  northern  earldom  than  can  be  clearly 
understood  at  this  late  day.  Lord  Lytton's  novel, 
called  "  Harold,"  makes  this  famous  household  seem 
to  live  before  our  eyes,  and  the  brief  recital  of  its 
fortunes  and  conditions  here  cannot  be  more  than  a 
hint  of  the  real  romance  and  picturesqueness  of  the 
story. 

The  absence  of  Godwine  in  Flanders — a  whole 
year's  absence — had  taught  his  countrymen  what  it 
was  to  be  without  him.  They  were  sadly  annoyed 
and  troubled  by  the  king's  continued  appointment 
of  Normans  to  every  place  of  high  honor  that  fell 
vacant.  Bishoprics  and  waste  lands  alike  were 
pounced  upon  by  the  hangers-on  at  court,  and  castles 
were  lifting  their  ugly  walls  within  sight  of  each 
other  almost,  here  and  there  in  the  quiet  English 
fields.  Even  in  London  itself  the  great  White 
Tower  was  already  setting  its  strong  foundations ; 


ACROSS  THE  CHANNEL.  193 

a  citadel  for  the  town,  a  fort  to  keep  the  borderers 
and  Danes  at  bay  were  necessary  enough  to  a  coun- 
try, but  England  was  being  turned  into  another 
Normandy  and  Brittany,  with  these  new  houses  that 
were  built  for  war,  as  if  every  man's  neighbor  were 
his  enemy.  The  square  high  towers  were  no  fit 
places  for  men  to  live  in  who  tilled  the  soil  and 
tended  their  flocks  and  herds.  There  were  too  many 
dark  dungeons  provided  among  the  foundation 
stones  beside,  and  the  English  farmers  whispered 
together  about  their  new  townsfolk  and  petty  lords, 
and  feared  the  evil  days  that  were  to  come. 

The  ruined  Roman  houses  and  strange  tall  stones  of 
the  Druid  temples  were  alike  thrown  down  and  used 
to  build  these  new  castles.  Men  who  had  strayed 
as  far  as  the  Norman  coasts  had  stories  enough  to 
tell ;  what  landmarks  of  oppression  these  same  castles 
were  in  their  own  country,  and  how  the  young  Duke 
William  had  levelled  many  of  them  to  the  ground  in 
quarrelsome  Normandy.  There  V/as  no  English 
word  for  this  awesome  new  word — castles !  The 
free  and  open  halls  of  the  English  thanes  were  a 
strange  contrast  to  the  new  order  of  dwelling-places. 
Robert  of  Jumieges  had  been  made  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  and  a  host  of  his  countrymen  surround- 
ed the  king  more  and  more  closely  and  threatened 
to  deprive  the  English  of  their  just  rights.  It  was 
this  monk  Robert  who  had  "  beat  into  the  king's 
head "  that  his  brother  Alfred  had  come  to  his 
death  through  Earl  Godwine. 

It  is  very  easy  to  tell  the  story  of  the  Normans 
from  the  English  side.   Let  us  cross  the  Channel  again 


194  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

to  Roueii  and  see  what  effect  the  condition  of  Eng- 
lish affairs  was  having  upon  the  young  duke.  It  would 
not  be  strange  if  his  imagination  were  busy  with 
some  idea  of  enlarging  his  horizon  by  a  look  at  his 
neighbors.  Eadward  had  no  heir,  they  had  talked 
together  oftentimes,  perhaps,  about  the  possibility  of 
making  one  noble  great  kingdom  by  the  joining  of 
England  and  Normandy.  Every  day  more  stories 
reaclj^ed  his  ears  of  the  wealth  and  fruitfulness  of 
the  Copfessor's  kingdom. 


X. 


THE    BATTLE    OF   VAL-ES-DUNES. 

'  Who  stood  with  head  erect  and  shining  eyes,         / 
As  if  the  beacon  of  some  promised  land 
Caught  his  strong  vision,  and  entranced  it  there." 

—A.  F. 


The  Viking's  grandchildren  had  by  no  means  lost 
their  love  for  journeying  by  land  or  sea.  As  in  old  Nor- 
way one  may  still  find  bits  of  coral  and  rudely  shaped 
precious  stones  set  in  the  quaintly  wrought  silver 
ornaments  made  by  the  peasants,  so  in  Normandy 
there  are  pieces  of  Spanish  leather  and  treasures  from 
the  east  and  from  the  south,  relics  of  the  plundering  of 
a  later  generation.  Roger  de  Toesny,  one  of  Wil- 
liam's fiercest  enemies,  does  not  become  well-known 
to  us  until  we  trace  out  something  of  his  history  as 
a  wanderer  before  he  came  to  join  Talvas  in  a  well- 
planned  rebellion. 

In  Duke  Richard  the  Good's  time  there  was  a 
restless  spirit  of  adventure  stirring  in  Norman 
hearts,  and  the  foundations  were  laid  of  the  South- 
ern kingdoms  which  made  such  a  change  in  Europe. 
A  Norman  invasion  of  Spain  came  to  nothing  in 
comparison  with  those  more  important  settlements, 
but  in    ioi8  Roger  de  Toesny  carried  the  Norman 

195 


196  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

arms  into  the  Spanish  peninsula.  A  long  time  be- 
fore this  Richard  the  Fearless  had  persuaded  a  large 
company  of  his  Scandinavian  subjects  to  wander  that 
way,  being  pagan  to  the  heart's-core  and  hopelessly 
inharmonious.  Roger  followed  them  on  a  grand 
crusade  against  the  infidel  Saracen,  and  also  hoped 
to  gain  a  kingdom  for  himself.  He  was  of  the 
noblest  blood  in  Normandy,  of  Rolf  the  Ganger's 
own  family,  and  well  upheld  the  warlike  honor  of 
his  house  in  his  daring  fights  with  the  infidel.  Al- 
most unbelievable  stories  are  told  of  his  cannibal- 
like savagery  with  his  captives,  but  the  very  same 
stories  are  told  of  another  man,  so  we  will  not  stop  to 
moralize  upon  Roger's  wickedness.  He  married  the 
Spanish  countess  of  Barcelona,  who  did  homage  to 
the  king  of  France,  and  every  thing  looked  prosper- 
ous at  one  time  for  his  dominion,  but  it  never  really 
took  root  after  all,  and  de  Toesny  went  back  again 
to  Normandy,  and  blazed  out  instantly  with  tremen- 
dous wrath  at  the  pretentions  of  William  the  Bastard. 
He  could  not  believe  that  the  proud  Norman  barons 
and  knights  would  ever  submit  to  such  a  degradation. 
De  Talvas  was  only  too  glad  to  greet  so  sympa- 
thetic an  ally,  and  the  opposition  to  the  young  duke 
took  a  more  formidable  shape  than  ever  before. 

All  through  William's  earli'est  years  the  feudal 
lords  spent  most  of  their  strength  in  quarrelling  with 
each  other,  but  de  Toesny's  appearance  gave  the 
signal  for  a  league  against  the  ruler  whom  they  de- 
spised. William  was  no  longer  a  child,  and  rumors 
of  his  premature  sagacity,  and  his  uncommon  strength 
and  quickness  in  war,  were  flying  about  from  town 


THE   BATTLE    OE  THE   VAL-kS-DUNES.         1^7 

to  town  and  warned  liiv.  enemies  that  they  had  no  time 
to  lose  if  they  meant  to  crush  him  down.  He  was  a 
noble-looking  lad  and  had  shown  a  natural  pref- 
erence for  a  soldier's  life  ;  at  fifteen  he  had  demand 
ed  to  be  made  a  knight  of  the  old  Norman  tradi- 
tion in  which  lurked  a  memory  of  Scandinavian  cere- 
monies. None  save  Duke  William  could  bend  Duke 
William's  bow,  and  while  these  glowing  accounts 
of  him  were  written  from  a  later  standpoint,  and  his 
story  might  easily  be  read  backward,  as  a  fulfilment 
of  prophecy,  we  can  be  sure,  at  least,  that  his  power 
asserted  itself  in  a  marked  way,  and  that  he  soon 
gained  importance  and  mustered  a  respectable  com- 
pany of  followers  as  the  beginning  of  a  brilliant  and 
almost  irresistible  court  and  army.  Even  King 
Henry  of  France  was  jealous  of  his  vassal's  rising 
fame  and  popularity,  and  felt  obliged  to  pay  William 
a  deference  that  his  years  did  not  merit.  All 
through  the  first  twelve  years  men  felt  that  the  boy 
William's  life  was  in  danger,  and  that,  whatever  re- 
spect Henry  paid  him,  was  likely  to  be  changed  to 
open  animosity  and  disdain  the  moment  that  there 
was  a  good  excuse.  We  have  a  glimpse  now  and 
then  of  the  lonely  lad  at  his  sport  in  the  forest  about 
Falaise  and  Valognes,  where  he  set  apart  preserves 
for  hunting.  We  follow  him  from  Alan  of  Brittany's 
wardship,  to  the  guardian  he  chose  himself,  who  held 
the  place  of  tutor  with  that  of  captain-general  of  the 
Norman  array,  but,  guardian  or  no  guardian,  he 
pushed  forward  single-handed,  and  mastered  others, 
beside  himself,  in  a  way  that  the  world  never  will 
cease  to  wonder  at. 


198  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

Roger  d  ■  Tocsny  refused  allegiance  to  begin  witli, 
and  with  loud  expressions  of  his  scorn  of  the  Bas- 
tard, began  to  lay  waste  his  neighbors'  lands  as  if 
they,  too,  had  been  Saracens  and  merited  any  sort 
of  punishment.  We  first  hear  the  name  of  De  Beau- 
mont, famous  enough  ever  since,  in  an  account  of  a 
battle  which  some  of  Roger's  outraged  victims  waged 
against  him.  Grantmesnil,  too,  is  a  name  that  we 
shall  know  very  well  by  and  by,  when  William  has 
gone  over  to  England  with  his  Norman  lords.  Nor- 
mandy never  got  over  its  excitement  and  apparent 
astonishment  at  William's  presence  and  claims;  but 
even  in  his  boyhood  he  was  the  leader  of  a  party. 
"  So  lively  and  spirited  was  he,  that  it  seemed  to  all 
a  marvel,"  says  one  of  the  old  chroniclers,  with 
enthusiasm.  When  he  began  to  take  deep  interest 
in  his  affairs,  the  news  of  revolts  and  disorderliness 
in  the  country  moved  him  to  violent  fits  of  irritation, 
but  he  soon  learned  to  hide  these  instinctively,  and 
the  chronicle  goes  on  to  say  that  he  "  had  welling  up 
in  his  child's  heart  all  the  vigor  of  a  man  to  teacn 
the  Normans  to  forbear  from  all  acts  of  irregularity." 
In  this  outbreak  against  de  Toesny  he  found  an  irre- 
sistible temptation  to  assert  his  mastery,  and  boy  as 
he  was,  he  really  made  himself  felt ;  De  Toesny  was 
killed  in  the  fierce  little  battle,  and  his  death  gave  a 
temporary  relief  from  such  uprisings ;  but  William 
comes  more  and  more  to  the  front,  and  all  Normandy 
takes  sides  either  for  or  against  him.  This  was  no 
insignificant  pretender,  but  one  to  be  feared ;  his 
guardians  and  faithful  men  who  had  held  to  him  for 
good  or  bad  reasons,  were  mostly  j)ut  out  of  the  way 


THE   BA  TTLE    OF  THE   VAL-kS-DUNES.         I99 

by  their  enemies,  and  there  was  nobody  at  last  who 
could  lead  the  Bastard's  men  to  battle  better  than  he 
could  himself. 

Henry  of  France  had  been  biding  his  time,  and 
now  Guy  of  Burgundy,  the  son  of  William's  cousin, 
whom  he  had  welcomed  kindly  at  his  feudal  court, 
puts  in  a  claim  to  the  dukedom  of  Normandy.  He 
helped  forward  a  conspiracy,  and  one  night,  while 
William  was  living  in  his  favorite  castle  at  Valognes, 
the  jester  came  knocking  with  his  bauble,  and  crying 
at  the  chamber  door,  begging  him  to  fly  for  his  life: 
"  They  are  already  armed;  they  are  getting  ready; 
to  delay  is  death  !  "  cried  poor  Golet  the  fool ;  and 
his  master  leaped  out  of  bed,  seized  his  clothes,  and 
ran  to  the  stables  for  his  horse.  Presently  he  was 
galloping  away  toward  Falaise  for  dear  life,  and  to 
this  day  the  road  he  took  is  called  the  Duke's  road. 
This  was  in  1044,  and  William  was  nineteen  years 
old.  He  was  not  slow  to  understand  that  the  rebels 
had  again  risen,  and  that  the  conspiracy  was  more 
than  a  conspiracy;  it  was  a  determined  insurrection. 
All  the  night  long,  as  he  rode  across  the  country  in 
the  bright  moonlight,  he  was  thinking  about  his 
plans,  no  doubt,  and  great  energies  and  determina- 
tions were  suddenly  waked  in  his  heart.  This  was 
more  than  a  dislike  of  himself  and  the  tan-yard  in- 
heritance ;  it  was  the  old  rivalry  of  the  Frenchmen 
and  Northmen.  The  old  question  of  supremacy  and 
race  prejudice  was  to  be  fought  over  once  more  and 
for  the  last  time  with  any  sort  of  distinctness.  This 
was  not  the  petty  animosity  of  one  baron  or  another ; 
it  was  almost  the  whole  nobility  of  Normandy  against 
their  duke. 


200  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

There  was  one  episode  of  the  duke's  journey  which 
is  worth  telHng:  He  had  ridden  for  dear  hfe,  and 
liad  forded  many  a  stream,  and  one,  more  dangerous, 
tide  inlet  where  the  rivers  Oune  and  Vire  flowed  out 
to  sea ;  and  when  he  got  safe  across,  he  went  into 
the  Church  of  St.  Clement,  in  the  Bayeux  district, 
to  kneel  down  and  say  his  prayers. 

As  the  sun  rose,  he  came  close  to  the  church  and 
castle  of  Rye,  and  the  Lord  of  R)'e  was  standing  at 
the  castle  gate  in  the  clear  morning  air.  William 
spurred  his  horse,  and  was  for  hurr}'ing  by,  but  this 
faithful  vassal,  whose  name  was  Hubert,  knew  him, 
and  stopped  him,  and  begged  to  be  told  the  reason 
of  such  a  headlong  journey.  The  Lord  of  Rye  was 
very  hospitable,  and  the  tired  duke  dismounted,  and 
was  made  welcome  in  the  house  ;  and  presently  a 
fresh  horse  was  brought  out  for  him,  and  the  three 
brave  sons  of  the  loyal  house  were  mounted  also  to 
ride  by  his  side  to  Falaise.  This  hospitality  was  not 
forgotten.  Later,  in  England,  their  grateful  guest 
set  them  in  high  places,  and  favored  them  in  princely 
fashion.  Guy,  of  Burgundy  had  been  brought  up 
with  William  as  a  friend  and  kinsman,  and  had  been 
treated  with  great  generosit}'.  He  was  master  of 
some  great  estates,  and  one  of  these  was  a  powerful 
border  fortress  between  Normandy  and  France.  His 
friends  were  many,  and  he  found  listeners  enough 
to  his  propositions.  Born  of  the  princely  houses  of 
Burgundy  and  Normandy,  he  claimed  the  duchy  as 
his  inherited  right  ;  and  while  so  many  in  court  and 
camp  were  ashamed  of  their  lawful  leader,  and  ready 
to  deny  his  authority,  came  Guy's  opportunity. 


THE  BATTLE    OF  THE   VAL-kS-DUNES.        20I 

William  was  cautious,  and  not  without  experience. 
When  he  was  only  a  baby  he  had  caught  at  the  straw 
on  which  he  lay,  and  would  not  let  go  his  hold,  and 
this  sign  of  his  future  power  and  persistence  had  been 
proved  a  true  one.  The  quarrelsome,  lawless  lords 
felt  that  their  days  of  liberty  for  themselves,  and 
oppression  of  everybody  else,  would  soon  be  over  if 
they  did  not  strike  quickly.  They  dreaded  so  strong 
and  stern  a  master,  and  rallied  to  the  standard  of 
the  Bastard's  rival,  Guy  of  Burgundy. 

There  were  some  of  the  first  nobles  of  the  Coten- 
tin  who  forsook  their  young  duke  for  this  rival  who 
was  hardly  Norman  at  all,  as  they  usually  decided 
such  points.  His  Norman  descent  was  on  the  spin- 
dle side  rather  than  the  sword,  to  use  the  old  dis- 
tinction, and  his  mother's  ancestors  would  not  have 
prevented  him  in  other  days  from  being  called  al- 
most a  Frenchman.  There  is  a  tradition  that  Guy 
promised  to  divide  the  lands  of  Normandy  with  his 
allies,  keeping  only  the  old  French  grant  to  Rolf  for 
himself,  and  this  must  have  been  the  cause  of  the 
treason  of  the  descendants  of  Rolf's  and  William 
Longsword's  loyal  colonists.  It  would  amaze  us  to 
see  the  change  in  the  life  and  surroundings  of  the 
feudal  lords  even  in  the  years  of  William's  minority. 
The  leader  of  the  barons  in  the  revolt  was  the 
Viscount  of  Coutances,  the  son  of  that  chief  who  had 
defeated  iEthelred  of  England  and  his  host  nearly 
half  a  century  before.  He  lived  in  a  castle  on  the 
river  Oune,  near  which  he  afterward  built  his  great 
St.  Saviour's  Abbey.  This  was  the  central  point  of 
the  insurrection,  and  from  his  tower  Neal  of  St.  Sa- 


202  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

viour  could  take  a  wide  survey  of  his  beautiful 
Cotentin  country  with  its  plough-land  and  pastures 
and  forests,  the  great  minster  of  Lessay,  and  the 
cliffs  and  marshes  ;  the  sturdy  castles  of  his  feudal 
lords  scattered  far  and  wide.  There  came  to  Saint 
Saviour's  also  Randolf  of  Bayeux,  and  Hamon  of 
Thorigny  and  of  Creuilly,  and  Grimbald  of  Plessis, 
and  each  of  them  made  his  fortress  ready  for  a  siege, 
and  swore  to  defend  Guy  of  Burgundy  and  to  use 
every  art  of  war  and  even  treachery  to  subdue  and 
disgrace  William.  I  say  "  even  treachery,"  but  that 
was  the  first  resort  of  these  insurgents  rather  than 
the  last.  They  had  laid  the  deep  plot  to  seize  and 
murder  him  at  Valognes,  and  Grimbald  was  to  have 
struck  the  blow. 

King  Henry  of  France  was  another  enemy  at 
heart.  It  is  difficult  at  first  to  understand  his  course 
toward  his  young  neighbor.  He  never  had  fairly 
acknowledged  him,  and  William  on  his  part  had 
never  put  his  hands  into  the  king's  and  announced 
with  the  loyal  homage  of  his  ancestors  that  he  was 
Henry's  man.  While  Normandy  was  masterless  in 
William's  youth,  there  was  a  good  chance,  never 
likely  to  come  again  in  one  man's  lifetime,  for  the 
king  to  assert  his  authority  and  to  seize  at  least  part 
of  the  Norman  territory.  The  discontent  with  the 
base-born  heir  to  the  dukedom  might  not  have  been 
enough  by  itself  to  warrant  such  usurpation,  but 
then,  while  the  feudal  lords  were  in  such  turmoil 
and  so  taken  up  with,  for  the  most  part,  merely 
neighborhood  quarrels  ;  while  they  had  so  little  na- 
tional and  such  fierce  sectional  feeling,  would  have 


THE  RATTLE   OE  THE   VA L-ts-DUNES.        2o3 

been  the  time  for  an  outsider  to  enrich  himself  at 
their  expense.  It  was  not  yet  time  for  Normandy 
to  be  provoked  into  a  closer  unification  by  any  out- 
side danger.  The  French  and  Scandinavian  factions 
were  still  distinct  and  suspicious  of  each  other,  but 
it  was  alread}'  too  late  when  King  Henry  at  last, 
without  note  or  warning,  poured  his  soldiers  across 
the  Norman  boundary  and  invaded  the  Evregin  ;  too 
late  indeed  in  view  of  what  followed,  and  in  spite 
of  the  temporary  blazing  up  of  new  jealousies 
and  the  revival  of  old  grievances  and  hatreds. 
Henry  won  a  victory  and  triumph  for  the  time 
being  ;  he  demanded  the  famous  border  castle  of 
Tilliercs  and  insisted  that  it  should  be  destroyed, 
and  though  the  brave  commander  held  out  for 
some  time  even  against  William's  orders,  he  finally 
surrendered.  Henry  placed  a  strong  garrison  there 
at  once,  and  after  getting  an  apparently  strong  hold 
on  Normandy  there  followed  a  time  of  peace.  The 
king  seemed  to  be  satisfied,  but  no  doubt  the  young 
duke's  mind  was  busy  enough  with  a  forced  survey 
of  his  enemies,  already  declared  or  still  masked  by 
hypocrisy,  and  of  his  own  possible  and  probable  re- 
sources. A  readiness  to  do  the  things  that  must  be 
done  was  making  a  true  man  of  Duke  William  even 
in  his  boyhood.  For  many  years  he  had  seen  revolt 
and  violence  grow  more  easy  and  more  frequent  in 
his  dukedom  ;  the  noise  of  quarrels  and  fighting 
grew  louder  and  louder.  In  his  first  great  battle  at 
Val-es-dunes  the  rule  of  the  Cotentin  lords  and  Guy 
of  Burgundy,  or  the  rule  of  William  the  Bastard, 
struggled  for  the  mastery. 


204  THE   SrORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

It  was  a  great  battle  in  importance  rather  than  in 
numbers.  William  called  to  his  loyal  provinces  for 
help,  and  the  knights  came  riding  to  court  from  the 
romance-side  of  Normandy,  while  from  the  Bessin 
and  the  Cotentin  the  rebels  came  down  to  meet 
them.  It  seems  strange  that,  when  William  repre- 
sents to  us  the  ideal  descendant  of  the  Northmen, 
the  Scandinavian  element  in  his  dukedom  was  the 
first  to  oppose  him.  For  once  King  Henry  stood 
by  his  vassal,  and  when  William  asked  for  help  in 
that  most  critical  time,  it  was  not  withheld.  Henry 
had  not  been  ashamed  to  take  part  with  the  Norman 
traitors  in  past  times,  and  now  that  there  was  a. 
chance  of  breaking  the  ducal  government  in  pieces 
and  adding  a  great  district  to  France,  we  are  more 
than  ever  puzzled  to  know  why  he  did  not  make  the 
most  of  the  occasion.  Perhaps  he  felt  that  the  rule 
of  the  dukes  was  better  than  the  rule  of  the  mutinous 
barons  of  the  Cotentin,  and  likely,  on  the  whole,  to 
prove  less  dangerous.  So  when  William  claimed 
protection,  it  was  readily  granted,  and  the  king  came 
to  his  aid  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  troops,  and  helped 
to  win  the  victory. 

We  hear  nothing  of  the  Norman  archers  yet  in  the 
chronicler's  story  of  the  fight.  They  were  famous 
enough  afterward,  but  this  battle  was  between 
mounted  knights,  a  true  battle  of  chivalry.  The 
place  was  near  the  river  Orne,  and  the  long  slopes  of 
the  low  hills  stretched  far  and  wide,  covered  with 
soft  turf,  like  the  English  downs  across  the  Channel, 
lying  pleasantly  toward  the  sun.  Master  Wace 
writes  the.story  of  the  day  in  the  "  Roman  de  Rou," 


THE   BATTLE    OF  THE   VAL-kS-DUNES.        20$ 

and  sketches  the  battle-field  with  vivid  touches  of 
his  pen.  Mr.  Freeman  says,  in  a  note  beneath  his 
own  description,  that  he  went  over  the  ground  with 
Mr.  Green,  his  fellow-historian,  for  company,  and 
Master  Wace's  book  in  hand  for  guide.  In  the 
"Roman  de  Rou  "  there  is  a  hint  that  not  only  the 
peasantry,  but  the  poorer  gentlemen  as  well,  were 
secretly  on  William's  side,  that  the  prejudice  and 
distrust  toward  the  feudal  lords  was  very  great,  and 
that  there  was  more  confidence  in  a  sovereign  than 
in  the  irksome  tyranny  of  less  powerful  lords. 

The  barons  of  Saxon  Bayeux  and  Danish  Cou- 
tahces  were  matched  against  the  loyal  burghers  of 
Falaise,  Romanized  Rouen,  and  the  men  of  the 
bishop's  cities  of  Liseux  and  Evreux.  King  Henry 
stopped  at  the  little  village  of  Valmeray  to  hear 
mass,  as  he  came  up  from  the  south  with  his  fol- 
lowers, and  presently  the  duke  joined  them  in  the 
great  plain  beyond.  The  rebels  are  there  too  ;  the 
horses  will  not  stand  in  place  together,  they  have 
caught  the  spirit  of  the  encounter,  and  the  bright 
bosses  of  the  shields ;  the  lances,  tied  with  gay  rib- 
bons, glitter  and  shine,  as  the  long  line  of  knights 
bends  and  lifts  and  wavers  like  some  fluttering  gay 
decoration, — some  many-colored  huge  silken  splendor 
all  along  the  green  grass.  The  birds  fly  over  swiftly, 
and  return  as  quickly,  puzzled  by  the  strange  appear- 
ance of  their  country-side.  Their  nests  in  the  grass 
are  trampled  under  foot — the  world  is  alive  with 
men  in  armor,  who  laugh  loudly  and  swear  roundly, 
and  are  there  for  something  strange,  to  kill  each 
other  if  they  can,  rather  than  live,  for  the  sake  of 


206  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

Normandy.  Far  away  the  green  fields  stretch  into 
the  haze,  the  cottages  look  like  toys,  and  the  sheep 
and  cattle  feed  without  fear  in  the  pastures.  Church 
towers  rise  gray  and  straight-walled  into  the  blue 
sky.  It  is  a  great  day  for  Normandy,  and  her  best 
knights  and  gentlemen  finger  their  sword-hilts,  or 
buckle  their  saddle-girths,  and  wait  impatiently  for 
the  battle  to  begin  on  that  day  of  Val-es-dunes. 

Among  the  Cotentin  lords  was  Ralph  of  Tesson, 
lord  of  the  forest  of  Cinquclais  and  the  castle  of 
Harcourt-Thury.  Behind  him  rode  a  hundred  and 
twenty  knights,  well  armed  and  gallant,  who  would 
follow  him  to  the  death.  He  had  sworn  on  the  holy 
relics  of  the  saints  at  Baycux  to  smite  William 
wherever  he  met  him,  yet  he  had  no  ground  for 
complaint  against  him.  His  heart  fell  when  he  saw 
his  rightful  lord  face  to  face.  A  tanner's  grandson, 
indeed,  and  a  man  whose  father  and  mother  had 
done  him  wrong  ;  all  that  was  true,  yet  this  young 
Duke  William  was  good  to  look  upon,  and  as  brave  a 
gentleman  as  any  son  of  Rolf's,  or  the  fearless  Rich- 
ard's. Ralph  Tesson  (the  Badger  they  called  him), 
a  man  both  shrewd  and  powerful,  stood  apart,  and 
would  not  rank  himself  and  his  men  with  either  fac- 
tion, and  his  knights  crowded  round  him,  to  remind 
him  that  he  had  done  homage  once  to  William,  and 
would  fight  against  his  natural  lord.  The  Cotentin 
lords  were  dismayed  and  angr\-,  they  promised  him 
great  rewards,  but  nothing  touched  him,  and  he 
stood  silent,  a  little  way  from  the  armies.  The 
young  duke  and  the  king  noticed  him,  and  the  six- 
score-and-six  brave  knights  in  his  troop,  all  with  their 


THE  BATTLE   OF  THE   VAL-kS-DUNES.        20/ 

lances  raised  and  trimmed  with  their  ladies'  silk 
tokens.  William  said  that  they  would  come  to  his 
aid  ;  neither  Tesson  nor  his  men  had  any  grudge 
against  him. 

Suddenly  Tesson  put  spurs  to  his  horse,  and  came 
dashing  across  the  open  field,  and  all  the  lords  and 
gentlemen  held  their  breath  as  they  watched  him. 
"Thury!  Thury!"  he  shouted  as  he  came,  and 
"Thury!  Thury!  "the  cry  echoed  back  again  from 
the  distance.  He  rode  straight  to  the  duke  ;  there 
was  a  murmur  from  the  Cotentin  men  ;  he  struck  the 
duke  gently  with  his  glove.  It  was  but  a  playful 
mockery  of  his  vow  to  the  saints  at  Bayeux ;  he  had 
struck  William,  but  he  and  his  knights  were  Wil- 
liam's men  again  ;  the  young  duke  said,  "  Thanks  to 
thee !  "  and  the  fight  began,  all  the  hotter  for  the  an- 
ger of  the  deserted  barons  and  their  desire  for  re- 
venge. The  day  had  begun  with  a  bad  omen  for 
their  success.  "  Dexaide  !  "  the  old  Norman  war-cry, 
rang  out,  and  those  who  had  followed  the  lilies  of 
France  cried  "  Montjoie  Saint  Denis ! "  as  they 
fought. 

Nowadays,  a  soldier  is  a  soldier,  and  men  who 
choose  other  professions  can  keep  to  them,  unless  in 
their  country's  extremity  of  danger,  but  in  that  day 
every  man  must  go  to  the  wars,  if  there  were  need 
of  him,  and  be  surgeon  or  lawyer,  and  soldier  too  ; 
yes,  even  the  priests  and  bishops  put  on  their  swords 
and  went  out  to  fight.  It  would  be  interesting  to 
know  more  names  on  the  roll-call  that  day  at  Val-es- 
dunes,  but  we  can  almost  hear  the  shouts  to  the 
patron    saints,  and  the  clash  of  the  armor.       King 


2o8  THE  STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

Henry  fought  like  a  brave  man,  and  the  storm  ol 
the  battle  raged  fiercest  round  him.  The  knights 
broke  their  lances,  and  fought  sword  to  sword. 
There  was  no  play  of  army  tactics  and  manoeuvring, 
but  a  hand-to-hand  fight,  with  the  sheer  strength  ol 
horse  and  man.  Once  King  Henry  was  overthrown 
by  the  thrust  of  a  Cotentin  lance,  and  sprang  up 
quickly  to  show  himself  to  his  men.  Again  he  was 
in  the  thickest  of  the  encounter,  and  was  met  by 
one  of  the  three  great  rebel  chiefs  and  thrown  upon 
the  ground,  but  this  Lord  of  Thorigny  was  struck,  in 
his  turn,  by  a  loyal  French  knight,  and  presently  his 
lamenting  followers  carried  him  away  dead  on  his 
shield  like  any  Spartan  of  old.  And  the  king  hon- 
ored his  valor  and  commanded  that  he  should  be 
buried  with  splendid  ceremonies  in  a  church  not  far 
from  the  battlefield.  Long  afterward  the  Norman 
men  and  women  loved  to  sing  and  to  tell  stories 
about  the  young  Duke  William's  bravery  and  noble 
deeds  of  arms  in  that  first  great  fight  that  made  him 
duke  from  one  end  of  Normandy  to  the  other. V He 
slew  with  his  own  hand  the  noblest  and  most  daring 
warrior  of  Bayeux.  Master  Wace,  the  chronicler, 
tells  us  how  William  drove  the  sharp  steel  straight 
through  his  hardy  foe,  and  how  the  body  fell  be- 
neath his  stroke  and  its  soul  departed.  Wace  was  a 
Bayeux  man  himself,  and  though  he  was  a  loyal 
songster  and  true  to  his  great  duke,  he  cannot  help 
a  sigh  of  pride  and  sorrow  over  Hardrez'  fate. 

Neal  of  St.  Saviour  fought  steadily  and  cheered  his 
men  eagerly  as  the  hour  went  on,  but  Randolf  of 
Bayeux  felt  his  courage  begin  to  fail  him.     Hamon 


THE  BATTLE   OF  THE   VA l.-kS-DUNES.        209 

was  dead.  Their  great  ally,  Hardrez,  had  been  the 
flower  of  his  own  knights,  and  he  was  lying  dead  of 
a  cruel  sword-thrust  there  in  plain  sight.  He  lost 
sight  of  Neal,  perhaps,  for  he  was  suddenly  afraid  of 
betrayal,  and  grieved  that  he  had  ever  put  his  helmet 
on.  There  i.;  a  touching  bit  of  description  in  the  "  Ro- 
man dc  Rou  "  ju!:t  now.  The  battle  pleased  him  no 
more,  is  told  in  the  quaint  short  lines.  He  thought 
how  sad  it  ^\•as  to  be  a  captive,  and  sadder  still  to  be 
slain.  He  gave  way  feebly  at  every  charge  ;  he 
wandered  to  and  fro  aimlessly,  a  thing  to  be  stum- 
bled over,  we  fancy  him,  now  in  the  front  of  the 
fight,  now  in  the  rear  ;  at  last  he  dropped  his  lance 
and  shield.  "  He  stretched  forth  his  neck  and  rode 
for  his  life,"  says  Master  Wace^  quite  ashamed  of  his 
countryman.  But  we  can  see  the  poor  knight's 
head  drooping  low,  and  his  good,  tired  horse — the 
better  man  of  the  two — mustering  all  his  broken 
strength  to  carry  his  master  beyond  the  reach  of 
danger.  All  the  cowards  rode  after  him  pell-mell, 
but  brave  Saint  Saviour  fought  to  the  last  and  held 
the  field  until  his  ri'jht  arm  failed  and  he  could  not 
strike  again.  The  French  pressed  him  hard,  the 
Norman  men  looked  few  and  spent,  and  the  mighty 
lord  of  the  Cotentin  knew  that  all  hope  was  lost. 
There  on  the  rising  ground  of  Saint  Lawrence  the 
last  blow  was  struck. 

Away  went  the  rebels  in  groups  of  three  or  four — 
away  for  dear  life  every  one  of  them,  riding  this  way 
and  that,  trying  to  get  out  of  reach  of  their  enemies 
and  into  some  sort  of  shelter.  The  duke  chased 
them  like  a  hound  on  the  track  of  hares  on,  on  tow- 


210  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

ard  Bayeux,  past  the  great  Abbey  of  Fontenay  and 
the  Allemagnc  quarries,  until  they  reached  the  river 
Orne  with  its  deep  current.  Men  and  horses  floun- 
dered in  the  water  there,  and  many  hot  wounds 
tinged  it  with  a  crimson  stain.  They  were  drowned, 
poor  knights,  and  poor,  brave  horses  too.  They 
went  struggling  and  drifting  down  stream  ;  the  banks 
were  strewn  with  the  dead  ;  and  the  mill-wheels  of 
Borbillon,  a  little  farther  down,  were  stopped  in 
their  slow  turning  by  the  strange  wreck  and  floating 
worthless  fragments  of  those  lords  and  gentlemen 
who  had  lost  the  battle  of  the  Val-es-djjnes. 

And  William  was  the  conqueror  of  Normandy. 
Guy  of  Burgundy  was  a  traitor  to  his  friends,  and 
won  a  heritage  of  shame  for  his  flight  from  the  field. 
We  hear  nothing  of  him  while  the  fight  went  on, 
only  that  he  ran  away.  It  appears  that  he  must  have 
been  one  of  the  first  to  start  for  a  place  of  safety, 
because  they  blame  him  so  much  ;  there  is  nothing 
said  about  all  the  rebels  running  away  together  a 
little  later.  That  was  the  fortune  of  war  and  in- 
evitable ;  not  personal  cowardice,  they  might  tell  us. 
Guy  of  Burgundy  was  the  man  who  had  led  the  three 
Cotentin  lords  out  by  fair  promises  and  taunts  about 
their  bastard  duke,- and  he  should  have  been  brave 
and  full  of  prowess,  since  he  undertook  to  be  the 
rival  of  so  brave  a  man.  He  did  not  go  toward  the 
banks  of  the  fateful  river,  but  in  quite  another 
direction  to  his  own  castle  of  Brionne,  and  a  troop 
of  his  vassals  escaped  with  him  and  defended  them- 
selves there  for  a  long  time,  until  William  fairly 
starved   them   out  like   rats  in   a  hole.     The)'   held 


THE   BATTLE   OF  THE   VAL-ES-DUNES.        211 

their  own  bravely,  too,  and  no  man  was  put  to  death 
when  they  surrendered,  while  Guy  was  even  allowed 
to  come  back  to  court.  Master  Wace  stoutly  main- 
tains that  they  should  have  been  hung,  and  says  long 
afterward  that  some  of  those  high  in  favor  at  court 
were  the  traitors  of  the  great  rebellion. 

Strange  to  say,  nobody  was  put  to  death.  Mr. 
Freeman  says  of  this  something  that  gives  us  such 
a  clear  look  at  William's  character  that  I  must  copy 
it  entire.  "  In  those  days,  both  in  Normandy  and 
elsewhere,  the  legal  execution  of  a  state  criminal 
was  an  event  that  seldom  happened.  Men's  lives 
were  recklessly  wasted  in  the  endless  warfare  of  the 
times,  and  there  were  men,  as  we  have  seen,  who 
did  not  shrink  from  private  murder,  even  in  its  basest 
forms.  But  the  formal  hanging  or  beheading  of  a 
noble  prisoner,  so  common  in  later  times,  was,  in  the 
eleventh  century,  a  most  unusual  sight.  And,  strange 
as  it  may  sound,  there  was  a  sense  in  which  William 
the  Conqueror  was  not  a  man  of  blood.  He  would 
sacrifice  any  number  of  lives  to  his  boundless  ambi- 
tion ;  he  did  not  scruple  to  condemn  his  enemies  to 
cruel  personal  mutilations ;  he  would  keep  men  for 
years  as  a  mere  measure  of  security,  in  the  horrible 
prison-houses  of  those  days  ;  but  the  extinction  of 
human  life  in  cold  blood  was  something  from  which 
he  shrank." 

At  the  time  of  the  first  great  victory,  the  historian 
goes  on  to  say,  William  was  of  an  age  when  men 
are  commonly  disposed  to  be  generous,  and  the 
worst  points  of  his  character  had  not  begun  to  show 
themselves.     Later  in  life,  when  he  had  broken  the 


212  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

rule,  or  perhaps  we  must  call  it  only  his  prejudice 
and  superstition,  we  find  that  the  star  of  his  glory  is 
already  going  down,  pale  and  spent,  into  the  mists  of 
shame  and  disappointment. 

None  of  the  traitors  of  the  Val-es-dunes  were 
treated  harshly,  according  to  the  standard  of  the 
times.  The  barons  paid  fines  and  gave  mortgages, 
and  a  great  many  of  them  were  obliged  to  tear  down 
their  robber  castles,  which  they  had  built  without 
permission  from  the  duke.V  This  is  the  reason  that 
there  are  so  few  ruins  in  Normandy  of  the  towers  of 
that  date.  The  Master  of  St.  Saviour's  was  obliged 
to  take  himself  off  to  Brittany,  but  there  was  evi- 
dently no  confiscation  of  his  great  estates,  for  we  find 
him  back  again  at  court  the  very  next  year,  high  in 
the  duke's  favor  and  holding  an  honorable  position. 
He  lived  forty-four  years  after  this,  an  uncommon 
lifetime  for  a  Norman  knight,  and  followed  the  Con- 
queror to  England,  but  he  got  no  reward  in  lands 
and  honor,  as  so  many  of  his  comrades  did.  Guy  of 
Burgundy  stayed  at  court  a  little  while,  and  then 
went  back  to  his  native  province  and  devoted  himself 
to  making  plots  against  his  brother,  Count  William. 
Grimbald  de  Plessis  fared  the  worst  of  all  the  conspira- 
tors; he  was  taken  to  Rouen  and  put  into  prison 
weighted  down  with  chains,  and  given  the  poorest  of 
lodgings.  He  confessed  that  he  had  tried  to  murder 
William  that  night  at  Valognes,  when  the  court 
jester  gave  warning,  and  said  that  a  knight  called 
Salle  had  been  his  confederate.  Salle  denied  the 
charge  stoutly  and  challenged  De  Plessis  to  fight  a 
judicial  combat,  but  before  the  day  came  the  schem- 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE   VAL-ES-DUNES.        213 

ing,  unlucky  baron  from  the  Saxon  lands  was  found 
dead  in  his  dungeon.  The  fetters  had  ground  their 
way  into  his  very  bones,  and  he  was  buried  in  his 
chains,  for  a  warning,  while  his  estates  were  seized 
and  part  of  them  given  to  the  church  of  Bayeux.  ' 

Now,  at  last,  the  Norman  priests  and  knights  knew 
that  they  had  a  master.  For  some  time  it  was  sur- 
prisingly quiet  in  Normandy,  and  the  country  was 
unexpectedly  prosperous.  The  great  duchy  stood 
in  a  higher  rank  among'  her  sister  kingdoms  than 
ever  before,  and  though  there  was  another  revolt 
and  serious  attacks  from  envious  neighbors,  yet  the 
Saxons  of  the  Bessin  and  the  Danes  of  the  Cotentin 
were  overthrown,  and  Normandy  was  more  unitedly 
Norman-French  than  ever.  There  had  been  a  long 
struggle  that  had  lasted  from  Richard  the  Fearless' 
boyhood  until  now,  but  it  was  ended  at  last,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes.  Even  now  there  is  a  differ- 
ence between  the  two  parts  of  Normandy,  though  so 
many  years  have  passed  ;  but  the  day  was  not  far 
off  after  this  battle  of  Val-es-dunes  when  the  young 
conqueror  could  muster  a  great  army  and  cross  the 
channel  into  England.  "  The  Count  of  Rouen," 
says  Freeman,  "  had  overcome  Saxons  and  Danes 
within  his  own  dominions,  and  he  was  about  to  weld 
them  into  his  most  trusty  weapons,  wherewith  to 
overcome  Saxons  and  Danes  beyond  the  sea." 

Perhaps  nothing  will  show  the  barbarous  cruelty  of 
these  times  or  William's  fierce  temper  better  than  the 
story  of  Alengon  and  its  punishment.  William  Tal- 
vas,  the  young  duke's  old  enemy,  formed  a  rebellious 
league  with  Geoffry  of  Anjou,  and  they  undertook 


2t4  THE   STOkY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

to  hold  Alen^on  against  the  Normans.  When  Wil- 
liam came  within  sight  of  the  city,  he  discovered 
that  they  had  sufficient  self-confidence  to  mock  at 
him  and  insult  him.  They  even  spread  raw  skins 
over  the  edge  of  the  city  walls,  and  beat  them  vigor- 
ously, yelling  that  there  was  plenty  of  work  for  the 
tanner,  and  giving  even  plainer  hints  at  what  they 
thought  of  his  mother's  ancestry. 

William  was  naturally  put  into  a  great  rage,  and 
set  himself  and  his  army  down  before  the  walls  his 
enemies  thought  so  invincible.  He  swore  "  by  the 
splendor  of  God  "  that  he  would  treat  them  as  a  man 
lops  a  tree. with  an  axe,  and,  sure  enough,  when  the 
siege  was  over,  and  Alen^on  was  at  the  Conqueror's 
mercy,  he  demanded  thirty-two  captives  of  war,  and 
nose,  hands,  and  feet  were  chopped  off,  and  present- 
ly thrown  back  over  the  walls  into  the  town. 


i^^^^^^^^L^ 

Ik^f^'&sT 

!^Wt? 

^^m 

®| 

^s 

m 

(Jj^>  ^**@r"^^^^ 

r^P^ 

^  <a 

^^^ife-^^'^  <^"^  K 

;^SflE^ 

XL 

THE   ABBEY   OF   BEC. 

"He  heard  across  the  howling  seas, 
Chime  convent  bells  on  wintry  nights." 

— Matthew  Arnold. 

The  only  way  of  escaping  from  the  obligations  of 
feudalism  and  constant  warfare  was  by  forsaking  the 
follies  of  the  world  altogether  for  the  shelter  of  a 
convent,  and  there  devoting  one's  time  and  thought 
to  holy  things.  A  monastic  life  often  came  to  be 
only  an  excuse  for  devotion  to  art  or  to  letters,  or 
served  merely  to  cover  the  distaste  for  military  pur- 
suits. It  was  not  alone  ecclesiasticism  and  a  love 
for  holy  living  and  thoughts  of  heaven  that  inspired 
rigid  seclusion  and  monkish  scorn  of  worldliness. 
Not  only  popular  superstition  or  recognition  of  true 
spiritual  life  and  growth  of  the  Church  made  up  the 
Church's  power,  but  the  presence  of  so  much  secu- 
lar thought  and  wisdom  in  the  fold.  Men  of  letters, 
of  science,  and  philosophy  made  it  often  more  than 
a  match  for  the  militant  element  of  society,  the  sol- 
diery of  Normandy,  and  the  great  captains,  who 
could  only  prove  their  valor  by  the  strength  of  their 
strategy  and  their  swords.  William  was  quick  to 
recognize  the  vast   strength  of  the   clergy  and  the 

215 


2l6  THE    STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

well-protected  force  of  cloistered  public  opinion.  A 
soldier  and  worldly  man  himself,  he  arrayed  himself 
on  the  side  of  severe  self-repression  and  knightly 
chastity  and  purity  of  life,  and  kept  the  laws  of  the 
convent  in  high  honor  ;  while  he  mixed  boldly  with 
the  rude  warfare  of  his  age.  He  did  not  think  him- 
self less  saintly  because  he  was  guilty  of  secret  crimes 
against  his  rivals.  A  skilful  use  of  what  an  old 
writer  calls  "  the  powder  of  succession  "  belonged  as 
much  to  his  military  glory  as  any  piece  of  field-tac- 
tics and  strategy.  He  was  anxious  to  stand  well  in 
the  Pope's  estimation,  and  the  ban  and  malediction 
of  the  Church  was  something  by  all  means  to  be 
avoided.  The  story  of  his  marriage  shows  his  bold, 
adventurous  character  and  determination  in  a  marked 
way,  and  his  persistence  in  gaining  his  ends  and  win- 
ning the  approval  of  his  superior,  in  spite  of  obstacles 
that  would  have  daunted  a  weaker  man.  To  gain  a 
point  to  which  the  Church  objected  he  must  show 
himself  stronger  than  the  Church. 
/  So  there  were  two  great  forces  at  work  in  Nor- 
mandy: this  military  spirit,  the  love  of  excitement, 
bf  activity,  and  adventure  ;  and  this  strong  religious 
jfeeling,  which  often  made  the  other  its  willing  scrv- 
(antr  and  was  sometimes  by  far  the  most  powerful  of 
the  two.  Whether  superstition  or  true,  devout  ac- 
ceptance and  unfolding  of  the  ideas  of  the  Christian 
religion  moved  the  Normans  and  their  contempora- 
ries to  most  active  service  of  the  Church,  we  will  not 
stop  to  discuss.  The  presence  of  the  best  scholars 
and  saints  in  any  age  is  a  leaven  and  inspiration  of 
that  age,  and  men   c.mnot   help  being  more  or  less 


THE   ABBEY  OF  BEC. 


217 


influenced  by  the  dwelling  among  them  of  Christ's 
true  disciples  and  ministers.  That  there  was  a  large 
amount  of  credulity,  of  superstitious  rites  and  ob- 
servances, we  cannot  doubt,  neither  can  we  ques- 
tion that  these  exercised  an  amazingf  control   over 


DOORWAY  OF  CATHEDRAL,  CHARTRES. 

ignorant  minds.  Standing  so  near  to  a  pagan  ances- 
try, the  people  of  large,  and,  relatively  speaking, 
remote  districts  of  Normand}',  were  no  doubt  con- 
fused by  lingering  vestiges  of  the  older  forms  of 
belief.      As  yet,  religion,  in  spite  of  the  creeds   of 


2l8  THE   STORY   OF  THE  iV  OR  MANS. 

knighthood,  showed  itself  more  plainl)'  in  stone  and 
mortar,  in  vestments,  and  fasts,  and  penances,  and 
munificent  endowments,  than  in  simple  truth  and 
godliness  of  life.  A  Norman  nobleman,  in  the  time 
of  the  Conqueror,  or  earlier,  thought  that  his  estate 
would  lack  its  chief  ornament  if  he  did  not  plant  a 
company  of  monks  in  some  corner  of  it.  It  was  the 
proper  thing  for  a  rich  man  to  found  a  monastery  or 
religious  house  of  some  sort  or  other,  and  this  was  a 
most  blessed  thing  for  the  scholars  of  their  time. 
The  profession  of  letters  was  already  becoming  dig- 
nified and  respectable,  and  the  students  of  the  Ven- 
erable Bede,  and  other  noble  teachers  from  both 
north  and  south,  had  already  scattered  good  seeds 
through  the  states  of  Europe.  It  was  in  this  time 
that  many  great  schools  were  founded,  and  in  the 
more  peaceful  years  of  the  early  reign  of  the  Con- 
queror, religion  and  learning  found  time  to  strike  a 
deeper  root  in  Normandy  than  ever  before.  There 
was  more  wealth  for  them  to  be  nourished  with, 
the  farms  were  productive,  and  the  great  centres  of 
industry  and  manufacture,  like  Falaise,  were  thriving 
famously.  It  was  almost  as  respectable  to  be  a  monk 
as  to  be  a  soldier.  There  is  something  very  beauti- 
ful in  these  earlier  brotherhoods — a  purer  fashion  of 
thought  and  of  life,  a  simplicity  of  devotion  to  the 
higher  duties  of  existence.  But  we  can  watch  here,  as  in 
the  later  movements  in  England  and  Italy,  a  gradual 
change  from  poverty  and  holiness  of  life,  to  a  love 
of  riches  and  a  satisfaction  with  corrupt  ceremonies 
and  petty  authority.  The  snare  of  worldliness  finds 
its  victims  always,  and  the  temptation  was  easy  then. 


THE  ABBEY  OF  BEC.  219 

as  it  is  easy  now,  to  forget  the  things  that  belong  to 
the  spirit.  We  have  seen  so  much  of  the  sword  and 
shield  in  this  short  history  that  we  turn  gladly  away 
for  a  little  space  to  understand  what  influences  were 
coming  from  the  great  abbeys  of  Bee  and  Saint 
Evreuil,  and  to  make  what  acquaintance  we  can 
with  the  men  who  dwelt  there,  and  held  for  their 
weapons  only  their  mass-books  and  their  principles 
of  education  and  of  holy  living.  Lanfranc  we  must 
surely  know,  for  he  was  called  the  right-hand  man  of 
the  Conqueror ;  and  now  let  us  go  back  a  little  way 
and  take  a  quick  survey  of  the  founding  of  the  Ab- 
bey of  Bee,  and  trace  its  history,  for  that  will  help 
us  to  understand  the  monastic  life,  and  the  wave  of 
monasticism  that  left  so  plain  a  mark  upon  the 
headlands  and  valleys  of  Normandy.  Both  in  Eng- 
land and  Norman  France,  you  can  find  the  same  red- 
roofed  villages  clustered  about  high  square  church 
towers,  with  windows  in  the  gray  stone  walls  that 
look  like  dim  fret-work  or  lace-work.  The  oldest 
houses  are  low  and  small,  but  the  oldest  minsters 
and  parish  churches  are  very  noble  buildings. 

The  first  entrance  into  one  of  the  old  cathedrals  is 
an  event  in  one's  life  never  to  be  forgotten.  It 
grows  more  beautiful  the  longer  one  thinks  of  it ;  that 
first  impression  of  height  and  space,  of  silence  and 
meditation ;  the  walls  are  stored  with  echoes  of 
prayers  and  chanting  voices;  the  windows  are  like 
faded  gardens,  with  their  sober  tints  and  gleams  of 
brighter  color.  The  saints  are  pictured  on  them 
awkwardly  enough,  but  the  glory  of  heaven  beams 
through  the  old  glass  upon  the  worn  tombstones  in 


220  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

the  floor ;  the  very  dust  in  the  rays  of  sunlight  that 
strike  across  the  wide,  solemn  spaces,  seems  sacred 
dust,  and  of  long  continuance.  We  shut  out  this 
busy  world  when  we  go  into  the  cathedral  door, 
and  look  about  us  as  if  this  were  a  waiting-room 
from  whence  one  might  easily  find  conveyance  to 
the  next  world.  There  is  a  feeling  of  nearness  to 
heaven  as  we  walk  up  the  great  aisle  of  what  our 
ancestors  called,  reverently  enough,  God's  house. 
One  is  suddenly  reminded  of  many  unseen  things 
that  the  world  outside  gives  but  little  chance  to 
think  about.  We  are  on  the  journey  heavenward 
indeed.  There  where  many  centuries  have  worn 
away  the  trace  of  worldliness  and  the  touch  of 
builders'  tools,  so  that  the  building  itself  seems  al- 
most to  have  grown  by  its  own  life  and  strength, 
you  think  about  the  builders  and  planners  of  such 
dignity  and  splendor  more  than  any  thing,  after  all. 
Who  were  the  men  that  dared  to  lift  the  roof  and 
plant  the  tall  pillars,"  and  why  did  they,  in  those 
poor,  primitive  times,  give  all  they  had  to  make  this 
one  place  so  rich  and  high.  The  bells  ring  a  lazy, 
sweet  chime  for  answer,  and  if  you  catch  a  glimpse 
of  some  brown  old  books  in  the  sacristy,  and  even 
spell  out  the  quaint  records,  you  are  hardly  satisfied. 
We  can  only  call  them  splendid  monuments  of  the 
spirit  of  the  time  (almost  uncivilized,  according  to 
our  standard)  when  nevertheless  there  was  a  profound 
sentiment  of  worship  and  reverence. 

Besides  this,  we  are  reminded  that  the  lords  of 
church  and  state  were  able,  if  it  pleased  them,  to 
command  the  entire  service  of  their  vassals.     All  the 


L. 


^ 


222  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

liberties  and  aids  and  perquisites  that  belonged  to 
rank  ceased  where  the  lowest  rank  ended,  at  the 
peasant.  He  was  at  anybody's  command  and  mercy 
who  chanced  to  be  his  master ;  he  had  but  precious 
few  rights  and  claims  of  his  own.  When  Christ 
taught  his  disciples  that  whosoever  would  be 
chief  among  them  must  become  as  a  servant,  he 
suggested  a  truth  and  order  of  relationship  most  as- 
tonishing and  contrary  to  all  precedent.  He  that 
would  be  chief  among  Hebrews  or  Normans,  chief, 
alas,  even  in  our  own  day,  is  still  misled  by  the  old 
idea  that  the  greatest  is  the  master  of  many  men. 
Wordly  power  and  heavenly  service  are  always  apt  to 
be  mistaken  for  each  other. 

In  an  age  when  every  man  claimed  the  right  of 
private  war  against  every  other  man,  unless  he  were 
lord  or  vassal,  we  naturally  look  for  ferocity,  and  un-. 
derstand  that  the  line  between  private  war  and  sim- 
ple robbery  and  murder  was  not  very  clearly  kept. 
Those  who  were  comparatively  unable  to  defend 
themselves  were  the  chief  sufferers,  and  of  course 
many  peace-loving  men  were  obliged  to  take  on  the 
appearance  of  fighters,  and  be  ready  for  constant 
warfare  in  all  its  shapes.  There  was  only  the  one  al- 
ternative— first  to  the  universal  dissension  of  a 
nationality  of  armed  men,  and  later  to  the  more  or- 
derly and  purposeful  system  of  knighthood, — simply 
to  retreat  from  the  world  altogether  and  lead  a  strictly 
religious  life.  The  famous  order  of  the  Benedictine 
monks  was  built  up  in  Normand}'  with  surprising 
devotion.  A  natural  love  and  respect  for  learning, 
which    had    long    been    smouldering   half-neglected, 


THE  ABBEY  OF  BEC.  223 

now  burst  into  a  quick  blaze  in  the  hearts  of  many 
of  the  descendants  of  the  old  Norse  skalds  and  Saga- 
men.  While  the  Augustinian  order  of  monks  is 
chiefly  famous  for  building  great  cathedrals,  and  the 
mendicant  friars  have  left  many  a  noble  hospital  as 
their  monuments,  so  the  Benedictines  turned  their 
energies  toward  the  forming  of  great  schools.  The 
time  has  passed  when  the  Protestant  world  belittled 
itself  by  contemptuously  calling  the  monks  lazy, 
sensual,  and  idle,  and  by  seeing  no  good  in  these  an- 
cient communities.  Learning  of  every  sort,  and  the 
arts,  as  well,  would  have  been  long  delayed  in  their 
development,  if  it  had  not  been  for  such  quiet  re- 
treats, where  those  men  and  women  who  chose 
could  turn  their  thoughts  toward  better  employments 
than  the  secular  world  encouraged  or  even  allowed. 
The  Benedictines  were  the  most  careful  fosterers  of 
scholarship ;  their  brethren  of  monastic  fame  owed 
them  a  great  deal  in  every  way. 

There  was  a  noble  knight  named  Herluin,  who 
lived  in  the  time  of  Duke  Robert  the  Devil,  and  who 
was  for  thirty-seven  years  a  knight-at-arms.  He  was 
a  descendant  of  one  of  Rolf's  companions,  his  lineage 
was  of  the  very  best,  and  his  estates  made  part  of 
the  original  grant  of  Charles  the  Simple.  Herluin 
was  vassal  to  Count  Gilbert  of  Brionne,  and  had 
proved  himself  a  brave  and  loyal  knight,  both  to  his 
overlord  and  the  duke.  He  was  high  in  favor,  and 
unusually  tender-hearted  and  just  to  those  in  trouble. 
We  cannot  help  wishing  that  it  had  seemed  possible 
to  such  a  man  that  he  should  stay  in  the  world  and 
leaven   society  by  his  example,  but  to  a  thoughtful 


224  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

and  gentle  soul  like  Herluin  the  cloister  offered 
great  temptations.  There  was  still  great  turbulence 
even  among  ecclesiastics — the  worst  of  them  "  bore 
arms  and  lived  the  life  of  heathen  Danes.  ,  .  . 
The  faith  of  Herluin  nearly  failed  him  when  he  saw 
the  disorder  of  one  famous  monastery,  but  he  was 
comforted  by  accidentally  beholding  the  devotions 
of  one  godly  brother,  who  spent  the  whole  night  in 
secret  prayer.  He  was  thus  convinced  that  the  salt 
of  the  earth  had  not  as  yet  wholly  lost  its  savor."  * 

Our  pious  knight  forsook  the  Avorld,  and  with 
a  few  companions  devoted  himself  to  building  a 
small  monastery  on  his  own  estate  at  Burneville, 
near  Brionne.  The  church  was  consecrated,  and 
its  founder  received  benediction  from  his  bishop, 
who  ordained  him  a  priest  and  made  him  abbot 
of  the  little  community.  Herluin  was  very  diligent 
in  learning  to  read,  and  achieved  this  mighty 
task  without  neglecting  any  of  the  work  which  he 
imposed  upon  himself  day  by  day.  Soon  he  grew 
famous  in  all  that  part  of  Normandy  for  his  sanctity 
and  great  wisdom  in  explaining  the  Bible.  But  it 
was  discovered  that  the  site  of  his  flourishing  young 
establishment  was  not  well  chosen  ;  an  abbe)'  must 
possess  supplies  of  wood  and  water,  and  so  the 
colony  was  removed  to  the  valley  of  a  small  stream 
that  flows  into  the  Lisle,  near  the  town  of  Brionne.  In 
the  old  speech  of  the  Normans  this  brook  was  called 
a  beck;  we  have  the  word  yet  in  verse  and  provincial 
speech  ;  and  it  gave  a  name  to  the  most  famous  and 
longest    remembered    perhaps    of   all    the    Normal 

*  Freeman. 


THE  ABBEY   OF  BEC.  12% 

monasteries.  Mr.  Freeman  says :  "  The  hills  are 
still  thickly  wooded  ;  the  beck  still  flows  through 
rich  meadows  and  under  trees  planted  by  the  water- 
side, by  the  walls  of  what  was  once  the  renowned 
monastery  to  which  it  gave  its  name.  But  of  the 
days  of  Herluin  no  trace  remains  besides  these  im- 
perishable works  of  nature.  A  tall  tower,  of  rich 
and  fanciful  design,  one  of  the  latest  works  of 
mediaeval  skill,  still  attracts  the  traveller  from  a  dis- 
tance ;  but  of  the  mighty  minster  itself,  all  traces, 
save  a  few  small  fragments,  have  perished. 
The  truest  memorial  of  that  illustrious  abbey  is  now 
to  be  found  in  the  parish  church  of  the  neighboring 
village.  In  that  lowly  shelter  is  still  preserved  the 
efifigy  with  which  after-times  had  marked  the  resting- 
place  of  the  founder.  Such  are  all  the  relics  which 
now  remain  of  the  house  which  once  owned  Lanfranc 
and  Anselm  as  its  inmates. 

"  In  this  valley  it  was  that  Herluin  finally  fixed  his 
infant  settlement,  devoting  to  it  his  own  small 
possession." 

"  By  loving  this  world,"  he  said, "when  he  pleaded 
for  his  poor  peasants  in  Gilbert  of  Brionne's  court — 
"  By  loving  this  world  and  by  obeying  man  I  have 
hitherto  much  neglected  God  and  myself.  I  have 
been  altogether  intent  on  training  my  body,  and  I 
have  gained  no  education  for  my  soul.  If  I  have 
ever  deserved  well  of  thee,  let  me  pass  what  remains 
of  life  in  a  monastery.  Let  me  keep  thy  affection 
and  with  me  give  to  God  what  I  had  of  thee." 

Herluin  was  not  left  alone  in  his  enterprise  ;  one 
companion  after  another  joined  him,  and  presently 


226  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

there  was  a  busy  company  of  monks  at  Bee.  They 
subjected  themselves  to  all  sorts  of  self-denials  and 
privations,  working  hard  at  building  their  new  home, 
at  ditching,  gardening,  or  wood-cutting,  and  chant- 
ing their  prayers  with  entire  devotion.  Herluin 
allowed  himself  one  scanty  meal  a  day,  and  went 
about. his  work  poorly  dressed,  but  serving  God  in 
most  humble  fashion.  This  was  the  story  of  many 
small  religious  houses  and  their  founders,  but  we 
cannot  help  tracing  the  beginning  of  the  abbey  of 
Bee  with  particular  interest  for  the  sake  of  Lanfranc, 
who  has  kept  its  memory  alive  and  made  it  famous 
in  Norman  and  English  history. 

The  story  of  this  friar  of  Bee,  who  came  to  be 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  whose  influence  and 
power  were  only  second,  a  few  years  later,  to 
William  the  Conqueror's  own,  reads  like  a  romance, 
as  indeed  does  many  another  story  of  that  romantic 
age.  He  was  born  at  Pavia,  the  City  of  the  Hun- 
dred Towers,  in  Lombardy,  and  belonged  to  an 
illustrious  family.  He  was  discovered  in  early  boy- 
hood to  be  an  uncommon  scholar,  and  even  in  his 
university  course  he  became  well  known  by  his  bril- 
liant talents  and  fine  gift  of  oratory.  He  was  looked 
upon  as  almost  invincible  in  debate  while  he  was 
still  a  school-bo)%  and  when  he  left  college  it  was 
supposed  that  he  would  give  the  benefit  of  his' 
attainments  and  growth  to  his  native  city.  For 
a  little  while  he  did  stay  there,  and  began  his  career, 
but  he  appears  to  have  been  made  restless  by  a  love 
of  change  and  adventure,  and  a  desire  to  see  the 
world,  and  next  we  find  him  going  northward  with  a 


THE  ABBEY   OF  BEC.  227 

company  of  admiring  scholars,  as  if  on  pilgrimage, 
but  in  the  wrong  direction  !  The  enthusiastic  little 
procession  crossed  the  St.  Bernard  pass  into  France 
and  for  some  reason  went  to  Avranches,  where  Lan- 
franc  taught  a  school  and  quickly  became  celebrated. 
In  spite  of  the  more  common  profession  or  trade  of 
fighting,  there  was  never  a  time  when  learning  or  the 
profession  of  letters  was  more  honored,  and  the 
Normans  yielded  to  none  of  their  contemporaries  in 
the  respect  they  had  for  scholars. 

Lanfranc  became  dissatisfied  with  the  honor  and 
glory  of  his  success  at  Avranches ;  and  presently,  in 
quest  of  something  more  deep  and  satisfying — more 
in  accordance  with  the  craving  of  his  spiritual  nature, 
left  his  flourishing  school  and  again  started  north- 
ward. The  country  was  very  wild  and  unsafe  for 
a  solitary  wayfarer  ;  and  presently,  so  the  tradition 
runs,  he  was  attacked  by  a  band  of  robbers,  beaten, 
and  left  tied  to  a  tree  without  food  or  money  or  any 
prospect  of  immediate  release.  The  long  hours  of 
the  night  wore  away  and  he  grew  more  and  more 
desperate  ;  at  last  he  bethought  himself  of  spiritual 
aid  as  a  last  resort,  and  tried  to  repeat  the  service 
of  the  church.  Alas  !  he  could  not  remember  the 
prayers  and  hymns,  and  in  his  despair  he  vowed 
a  pious  vow  to  God  that  he  would  devote  himself  to 
a  holy  life  if  his  present  sufferings  might  be  ended. 
In  good  season  some  charcoal  burners  played  the 
welcome  part  of  deliverers  and  Lanfranc,  yet  aching 
with  the  pinch  of  his  fetters  and  their  galling  knots, 
begged  to  know  of  some  holy  house  near  by,  and 
was  directed  to  Herluin's  hermitage  and  the  humble 
brotherhood  of  Bee. 


228  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

The  little  colony  of  holy  men  was  all  astir  that 
day.  Soldiers  and  sober  gentlemen  were  tilling  the 
soil  and  patiently  furthering  their  rural  tasks.  Her- 
luin  himself,  the  former  knight-at-arms,  was  clad  in 
simple  monkish  garb,  and  playing  the  part  of  master- 
mason  in  the  building  of  a  new  oven.  Out  from  the 
neighboring  thicket  comes  a  strange  figure,  pale  yet 
from  his  uncomforted  vigil,  and  prays  to  be  numbered 
with  those  who  give  their  lives  to  the  service  of 
God.  "  This  is  surely  a  Lombard  !  "  says  Herluin, 
wonderstruck  and  filled  with  sympathy  ;  and  when 
he  discovers  the  new  brother's  name  and  eager 
devotion,  he  kneels  before  him  in  love  and  rever- 
ence.    It  was  a  great  day  for  the  abbey  of  Bee. 

Such  learning  and  ability  to  teach  as  Lanfranc's 
could  not  be  hidden  ;  indeed  the  church  believed  in 
using  a  man's  great  gifts,  and  each  member  was  bound 
to  give  of  his  bounty  in  her  service.  The  brothers 
who  could  till  the  ground  and  hew  timber  and  build 
ovens  kept  at  their  tasks,  and  all  the  while  Lanfranc, 
the  theologian  and  teacher,  the  man  of  letters, 
gathered  a  company  of  scholars  from  far  and  wide. 
Bee  became  a  famous  centre  of  learning,  and  even 
from  Italy  and  Greece  young  men  journeyed  to  his 
school,  and,  as  years  went  b\',  he  was  venerated  more 
and  more.  His  quick  understanding  and  cleverness 
saved  him  many  a  disaster,  and  we  recognize  in  him 
a  charming  inheritance  of  wit  and  good  humor.  He 
had  the  individuality  and  characteristics  of  his  Italian 
ancestry,  while  he  was  that  rare  man  in  any  social 
circle  of  his  age,  or  even  a  later  age,— a  true  man  of 
the  world.    A  Norman  of  the  Normans  in  his  adopted 


THE  ABBEY  OF  BEC.  229 

home,  he  was  yet  able  to  see  Normandy,  not  as  the 
world  itself,  but  only  a  factor  in  it,  and  to  put  it  and 
its  ambitions  and  possessions  in  their  true  relation  to 
wider  issues.  There  was  no  such  churchman-states- 
man as  Lan franc  in  the  young  duchy,  and  his  fame 
and  glory  were  felt  more  and  more.  William  the 
duke  himself  might  well  set  his  wits  at  work  to 
conquer  this  formidable  opponent  of  his  marriage, 
and  win  him  over  to  his  following,  and  the  first  attack 
was  not  by  conciliatory  measures.  Lanfranc  received 
a  formidable  order  to  quit  the  country  and  leave  his 
abbey  of  Bee  on  penalty  of  worse  punishment. 

The  future  archbishop  of  English  Canterbury 
meekly  obeyed  his  temporal  lord,  and  set  out  through 
the  forest  with  a  pitiful  straggling  escort  affectingly 
futile  in  its  appearance.  He  himself  was  mounted 
on  the  worst  old  stumbling  horse  in  the  despoiled 
abbey  stables,  and  presently  they  meet  the  duke  out 
hunting  in  most  gallant  array  with  a  lordly  follow- 
ing of  knights  and  gentlemen.  It  looks  surprisingly 
as  if  shrewd  Lanfranc  had  arranged  the  scene  before- 
hand. Along  he  comes  on  his  feeble  steed,  limping 
slowly  on  the  forest  path  ;  he,  the  greatest  prior  and 
book-man  of  Normandy,  turned  out  of  the  house  and 
home  that  his  own  learning  had  made  famous  through 
Christendom.  "  Under  Lanfranc,"  says  the  chron- 
icler, "  the  Normans  first  fathomed  the  art  of  letters, 
for  under  the  six  dukes  of  Normandy  scarce  any  one 
among  the  Normans  applied  himself  to  liberal 
studies,  nor  was  there  any  learning  found  till  God, 
the  provider  of  all  things,  brought  Lanfranc  to  Nor- 
mandy.".   All  this,  no  doubt,  flashed  through  Wil- 


230  THE   STORY  OF   THE  NORMANS. 

Ham's  mind,  and  the  prior  of  Bee's  Italian  good- 
humor  proved  itself  the  best  of  weapons.  "  Give  me 
a  better  horse,"  he  cried,  "  and  you  shall  see  me  go 
away  faster."  The  duke  laughed  in  spite  of  himself, 
and  Lanfranc  won  a  a  chance  of  pleading  his  cause. 
Before  they  parted  they  were  sworn  friends,  and  the 
prior's  knowledge  of  civil  law  and  of  theology  and  of 
human  nature  (not  least  by  any  means  of  his  famous 
gifts)  were  for  once  and  all  at  the  duke's  service.  He 
supported  the  cause  of  the  unlawful  marriage,  and 
even  won  a  dispensation  from  the  Pope,  long  desired 
and  almost  hopeless,  in  William's  favor, 
—fitrtrth^  abbey  of  Bee  was  a^~great  power  for  good 
in  its  time,  and  carried  a  wonderful  influence  for 
many  years.  In  the  general  scarcity  of  books  in 
those  days  before  printing,  the  best  way  of  learning 
was  to  listen  to  what  each  great  scholar  had  to  say, 
and  the  students  went  about  from  school  to  school, 
and  lingered  longest  at  places  like  Bee,  where  the 
best  was  to  be  found.  The  men  here  were  not  only 
the  patrons  of  learning  and  the  guarders  of  their 
own  copies  of  the  ancient  classics,  but  they  taught  the 
children  of  the  neighborhood,  and  sheltered  the  rich 
and  poor,  the  old  people  and  the  travellers,  who  wan- 
dered to  their  gates.  They  copied  missals,  they  cast 
bells  for  churches,  they  were  the  best  of  farmers, 
of  musicians,  of  artists.  While  Lanfranc  waged  his 
great  battle  with  Berengarius  about  the  doctrine  of 
the  Eucharist,  and  came  out  a  victorious  champion 
for  the  church,  and  won  William's  cause  with  the 
Pope  with  most  skilful  pleading  of  the  value  of  Nor- 
man lovalt\'  to  the  See  of  Rome,  his  humbler  brethren 


THE  ABBEY  OF  BEC.  23  I 

tended  their  bees  and  ploughed  straight  furrows  and 
taught  the  country  children  their  letters.  Such  a 
centre  of  learning  and  of  useful  industry  as  Bee  was 
the  best  flower'  of  civilization.  Lanfranc  himself 
was  true  to  his  vow  of  humility.  We  catch  some 
delightful  glimpses  of  his  simple  life,  and  one  in  par- 
ticular of  his  being  met  on  a  journey  by  some  rever- 
ential pilgrims  to  his  school.  He  was  carefully  car- 
r}-'ing  a  cat  behind  him  on  the  saddle,  comfortably 
restrained  from  using  her  claws,  and  Lanfranc  ex- 
plained that  he  had  sometimes  been  grievously  an- 
noyed by  mice  at  his  destination,  and  had  provided 
this  practical  ally.  One  can  almost  see  the  twinkle 
in  the  good  man's  eyes,  and  the  faces  of  the  sur- 
prised scholars  who  had  been  looking  forward  with 
awe  and  dread  to  their  first  encounter  with  so  re- 
nowned a  man. 


^F^ 


^^^ 

!^ 

1 

^«M*^tv>!saai 

S 

1 

0 

i^^^^^M 

^S 

^^ 

^^2 

s 

i 

« 

£ 

h^ 

^^^^ 

^p 

P^ST 

E^ 

,m^^"^^^ 

^^^ 

^^ 

»^vS:i^<^< 

ni'i;','»»^i»-^?;J»" 

^^^^^™. 

XII. 


MATILDA  OF   FLANDERS. 


*'  It  had  been  easy  fighting  in  some  plain, 
Where  victory  might  hang  in  equal  choice  ; 
But  all  resistance  against  her  is  vain." 

— Marvell. 

We  have  occasionally  had  a  glimpse  of  Flanders 
and  its  leading  men  in  the  course  of  our  Norman 
story  ;  but  now  the  two  dukedoms  were  to  be  linked 
together  by  a  closer  tie  than  either  neighborhood, 
or  a  brotherhood,  or  antagonism  in  military  affairs. 
While  Normandy  had  been  gaining  new  territory 
and  making  itself  more  and  more  feared  by  the 
power  of  its  armies,  and  had  been  growing  richer  and 
richer  with  its  farms  and  the  various  industries  of  the 
towns,  Flanders  was  always  keeping  pace,  if  not 
leading,  in  worldly  prosperity. 

Flanders  had  gained  the  dignity  and  opulence  of  a 
kingdom.  Her  people  were  busy,  strong,  intelligent 
craftsmen  and  artists,  and  while  her  bell-towers 
lifted  themselves  high  in  the  air,  and  made  their 
chimes  heard  far  and  wide  across  the  level  country, 
the  weavers*  looms  and  the  women's  clever  fingers 
were  sending  tapestries  to  the  walls  of  the  Vatican, 
and  frost-like  laces  to  the  ladies  of  Spain. 

232 


MA  TILDA    OF  FLANDERS.  233 

The  heavy  ships  of  Flanders  went  and  came  with 
the  richest  of  freights  from  her  crowded  ports;  her 
picture-painters  were  at  work,  her  gardens  were  green, 
and  her  noblemen's  houses  were  filled  with  whatever 
a  luxurious  life  could  demand  or  invent.  As  the 
country  became  overcrowded,  many  of  the  inhabi- 
tants crossed  over  to  Scotland,  and  gained  a  foot- 
hold, sometimes  by  the  sword,  and  oftener  by  the 
plough  and  spade  and  weaver's  shuttle.  The  Doug- 
lases and  the  Leslies,  Robert  Bruce  and  all  the  fam- 
ilies of  Flemings,  took  root  then,  and,  whether  by  art 
or  trade,  established  a  right  to  be  called  Scotsmen, 
and  to  march  in  the  front  rank  when  the  story  is 
told  of  many  a  brave  day  in  Scottish  history. 

The  Count  of  Flanders  was  nominally  vassal  of 
both  Rome  and  France,  but  he  was  practically  his 
own  man.  Baldwin  de  Lisle,  of  the  Conqueror's 
time,  was  too  great  a  man  to  need  anybody's  help, 
or  to  be  bought  or  sold  at  will  by  an  over-lord.  He 
stood  well  as  the  representative  of  his  country's 
wealth  and  dignity.  A  firm  alliance  with  such  a 
neighbor  was  naturally  coveted  by  such  a  far-seeing 
man  as  the  young  duke ;  and  besides  any  political 
reasons,  there  was  a  closer  reason  still,  in  the  love  that 
had  sprung  up  in  his  heart  for  Matilda,  the  count's 
daughter.  In  1049,  ^^^  ^^^'^  been  already  making  suit 
for  her  hand,  for  it  was  in  that  }'ear  when  the  Coun- 
cil of  Rheiins  forbade  the  banns,  on  some  plea  of  rela- 
tionship that  was  within  the  limit  set  by  the  Church. 
William's  whole  existence  was  a  fight  for  his  life,  for 
his  dukedom,  for  his  kingdom  of  England,  and  he 
was  not   wanting  in  courage  in    this   long  siege   of 


234  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

church  and  state,  when  the  woman  he  truly  loved 
was  the  desired  prize.  If  history  can  be  trusted,  she 
was  a  prize  worth  winning  ;  if  WilHam  had  not  loved 
her,  he  would  not  have  schemed  and  persisted  for 
years  in  trying  to  win  her  in  spite  of  countless  hin- 
drances which  might  well  have  ended  his  quest  if  he 
had  been  guided  only  by  political  reasons  for  the 
alliance. 

His  nobles  had  eagerly  urged  him  to  marry.  Per- 
haps they  would  have  turned  their  eyes  toward  Eng- 
land first  if  there  had  been  a  royal  princess  of  Ead- 
ward's  house,  but  failing  this,  Flanders  was  the  best 
prize.  The  Norman  dukedom  must  not  be  left  with- 
out an  heir,  and  this  time  there  must  be  no  question 
of  the  honesty  of  the  heir's  claim  and  right  to  succes- 
sion. Normandy  had  seen  enough  division  and  dis- 
sension, and  angry  partisanship  during  the  duke's 
own  youth,  and  now  that  he  had  reached  the  age  of 
twenty-four,  and  had  made  himself  master  of  his  pos- 
sessions, and  could  take  his  stand  among  his  royal 
neighbors,  everybody  clamored  for  his  marriage,  and 
for  a  Lady  of  Normandy.  He  was  a  pure  man  in 
that  time  of  folly  and  licentiousness.  He  was  al- 
ready recognized  as  a  great  man,  and  even  the  daugh- 
ter of  Baldwin  of  Flanders  might  be  proud  to  marry 
him. 

Matilda  was  near  the. duke's  own  age,  but  she  had 
already  been  married  to  a  Flemish  of^cial,  and  had 
two  children.  She  was  a  beautiful,  graceful  woman, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  believe  some  well-known  old 
stories  of  William's  rude  courtship  of  her,  since  her 
father  evidently  was  ready  to  favor  the  marriage,  and 


MATILDA    OF  FLANDERS.  235 

she  seems  to  have  been  a  most  loyal  and  devoted 
wife  to  her  husband,  and  to  have  been  ready  enough 
to  marry  him  hastily  at  the  end  of  a  most  trouble- 
some courtship.  The  great  Council  of  Rheims  had 
forbidden  their  marriage,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
and  the  pious  Pope  Leo  had  struck  blows  right  and 
left  among  high  offenders  of  the  Church's  laws  ;  a 
whole  troop  of  princes  were  excommunicated  or  put 
under  heavy  penances,  and  the  Church's  own  ofTficials 
were  dealt  justly  with  accordingto  their  sins.  When 
most  of  these  lesser  contemporaries  were  properly 
sentenced,  a  decree  followed,  which  touched  two 
more  illustrious  men  :  the  Count  of  Flanders  was 
forbidden  to  give  his  daughter  to  the  Norman  duke 
for  a  wife,  and  William,  in  his  turn,  was  forbidden  to 
take  her.  For  four  long  years  the  lovers — if  we  may 
believe  them  to  be  lovers — were  kept  apart  on  the 
Pope's  plea  of  consanguinity.  There  is  no  evidence 
remaining  that  this  was  just,  yet  there  truly  may 
have  been  some  relationship.  It  is  much  easier  to 
believe  it,  at  any  rate,  than  that  the  count's  wife 
Adela's  former  child-marriage  to  William's  uncle 
could  have  been  put  forward  as  any  sort  of  objec- 
tion. 

We  must  leave  for  another  chapter  the  affairs  of 
Normandy  and  William's  own  deeds  during  the  four 
years,  and  go  forward  with  this  story  of  his  marriage 
to  a  later  time,  when  in  the  course  of  Italian  affairs, 
a  chance  was  given  to  bring  the  long  courtship  to  a 
happy  end.  Strangely  enough  this  came  by  means 
of  the  De  Hautevilles  and  that  Norman  colony  whose 
fortunes  we  have  already  briefly  traced.     In  the  con- 


236  THE   STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

flict  with  Pope  Leo,  when  he  was  forced  to  yield  to 
the  Normans'  power  and  to  recognize  them  as  a 
loyal  state,  William  either  won  a  consent  to  his  wed- 
ding or  else  dared  to  brave  the  Pope's  disapproval. 
While  Leo  was  still  in  subjection  the  eager  duke 
hurried  to  his  city  of  Eu,  near  the  Flemish  border, 
and  met  there  Count  Baldwin  and  his  daughter. 
There  was  no  time  spent  in  splendid  processions 
and  triumphal  pageants  of  the  Flemish  craftsmen ; 
some  minor  priest  gave  the  blessing,  and  as  the  duke 
and  his  hardly-won  wife  came  back  to  the  Norman 
capital  there  was  a  great  cheering  and  rejoicing  all 
the  way  ;  and  the  journey  was  made  as  stately  and 
pompous  as  heart  could  wish.  There  was  a  magnifi- 
cent welcome  at  Rolf's  old  city  of  Rouen  ;  it  was 
many  years  since  there  had  been  a  noble  lady,  a 
true  duchess,  on  the  ducal  throne  of  Normandy. 

But  the  spirit  of  ecclesiasticism  held  its  head  too 
high  in  the  pirates'  land  to  brook  such  disregard  of 
its  canons,  even  on  the  part  of  its  chief  ruler.  There 
was  an  uncle  of  William's,  named  Mauger,  who  was 
primate  of  the  Norman  church.  He  is  called  on 
every  hand  a  very  bad  man  — at  any  rate,  his  faults 
were  just  the  opposite  of  William's,  and  of  a  sensual 
and  worldly  stamp.  He  was  not  a  fit  man  for  the 
leader  of  the  clergy,  in  William's  opinion.  Yet  Mau- 
ger was  zealous  in  doing  at  least  some  of  the  duties 
of  his  office — he  did  not  flinch  from  rebuking  his 
nephew!  All  the  stories  of  his  life  are  of  the  worst 
sort,  unless  we  give  him  the  credit  of  trying  to  do 
right  in  this  case,  but  we  can  too  easily  remember 
the  hatred  that  he  and  all  his  family  bore  toward  the 


MATILDA    OF  FLANDERS.  237 

bastard  duke  in  his  boyhood,  and  suspect  at  least 
that  jealousy  may  have  taken  the  place  of  scorn  and 
despising.  One  learns  to  fear  making  point-blank 
decisions  about  the  character  of  a  man  so  long  dead, 
even  of  one  whom  everybody  blamed  like  Mauger. 
His  biographers  may  have  been  his  personal  enemies, 
and  later  writers  have  ignorantly  perpetuated  an  un- 
just hue  and  cry. 

Perhaps  Lanfranc  may  be  trusted  better,  for  he  too 
blamed  the  duke  for  breaking  a  holy  law, — Lanfranc 
the  merry,  wise  Italian,  who  loved  his  fellow-men, 
and  who  was  a  teacher  by  choice  and  by  gift  of  God. 
All  Normandy  was  laid  under  a  ban  at  this  time  for 
the  wrong  its  master  had  done.  Lanfranc  rebuked 
the  assumed  sinner  bravely,  and  William's  fierce  stern 
temper  blazed  out  against  him,  and  ordered  a  vicious 
revenge  of  the  insult  to  him  and  to  his  wife.  The 
just  William,  who  kept  Normand}'  in  such  good 
order,  who  stood  like  a  bulwark  of  hewn  stone  be- 
tween his  countr}'  and  her  enemies,  was  the  same 
William  who  could  toss  severed  hands  and  feet  over 
the  Alen^on  wall,  and  give  orders  to  burn  the  grain 
stacks  and  household  goods  of  the  abbey  of  Bee. 
W^e  have  seen  how  the  duke  and  the  abbot  met,  and 
how  they  became  friends  again,  and  Lanfranc  made 
peace  with  Pope  Leo  and  won  him  the  loyalty  of 
Normandy  in  return.  Very  likely  Lanfranc  was  glad 
to  explain  the  truth  and  to  be  relieved  from  uphold- 
ing such  a  flimsy  structure  as  the  church's  honor 
demanded.  At  any  rate,  William  gladly  paid  his 
Peter's  pence  and  set  about  building  his  great  abbey 
of  St.  Etienne,  in  Caen,  for  a  penance,  and   made 


238  THE   STORY  OF  THE    NORMANS. 

Lanfranc  its  prelate,  and  Matilda  built  her  abbey  of 
the  Holy  Trinity,  while  in  four  of  the  chief  towns  of 
Normandy  hospitals  were  built  for  the  old  and  sick 
people  of  the  duchy.  We  shall  see  more  of  these 
churches  presently,  but  there  they  still  stand,  facing 
each  other  across  the  high-peaked  roofs  of  Caen ; 
high  and  stately  churches,  the  woman's  tower  and 
the  man's  showing  characteristics  of  boldness  and  of 
ornament  that  mark  the  builders'  fancy  and  carry  us 
in  imagination  quickly  back  across  the  eight  hundred 
years  since  they  were  planned  and  founded.  Anselm, 
Maurilius,  and  Lanfranc,  these  were  the  teachers  and 
householders  of  the  great  churches,  and  one  must 
have  a  new  respect  for  the  young  duke  and  duchess 
who  could  gather  and  hold  three  such  scholars  and 
saintly  men  to  be  leaders  of  the  church  in  Nor- 
mandy. 

There  were  four  sons  and  three  daughters  born  to 
William  and  Matilda,  and  there  is  no  hint  of  any 
difference  or  trouble  between  the  duke  and  his  wife 
until  they  were  unable  to  agree  about  the  mis- 
conduct of  their  eldest  son.  Matilda's  influence  for 
good  may  often  be  traced  or  guessed  at  in  her  hus- 
band's history,  and  there  are  pathetic  certainties  of 
her  resignation  and  gentleness  when  she  was  often 
cruelly  hurt  and  tried  by  the  course  of  events. 

Later  research  has  done  away  with  the  old  idea  of 
her  working  the  famous  Bayeux  tapestry  with  the 
ladies  of  her  court  to  celebrate  the  Conqueror's  great 
deeds  ;  but  he  needed  no  tribute  of  needle-work,  nor 
she  either,  to  make  them  remembered.  They  have 
both  left  pictures  of  themselves  done  in  fadeless  col- 


MATILDA    OF  FLANDERS.  239 

ors  and  living  text  of  lettering  that  will  stand  while 
English  words  are  spoken,  and  Norman  trees  bloom 
in  the  spring,  and  Norman  rivers  run  to  the  sea,  and 
the  towers  of  Caen  spring  boldly  toward  the  sky. 

We  cannot  be  too  thankful  that  so  much  of  these 
historic  churches  has  been  left  untouched.  When  it 
is  considered  that  at  five  separate  times  the  very 
fiends  of  destruction  and  iconoclasm  seem  to  have 
been  let  loose  in  Normandy,  it  is  a  great  surprise 
that  there  should  be  so  many  old  buildings  still  in 
existence.  From  the  early  depredations  of  the 
Northmen  themselves,  down  to  the  religious  wars  of 
the  sixteenth  century  and  the  French  revolution  of 
the  eighteenth,  there  have  been  other  and  almost 
worse  destroying  agencies  than  even  the  wars  them- 
selves. Besides  the  natural  decay  of  masonry  and 
timber,  there  was  the  very  pride  and  growing  wealth 
of  the  rich  monastic  orders  and  the  large  towns,  who 
liked  nothing  better  than  to  pull  down  their  barns 
to  build  greater  and  often  less  interesting  ones. 
The  most  prosperous  cities  naturally  build  the  best 
churches,  as  they  themselves  increase,  and  naturally 
replace  them  oftenest,  and  so  retain  fewest  that  are 
of  much  historical  interest  in  the  end.  The  most 
popular  weapon  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries 
was  fire  ;  and  the  first  thing  that  Norman  assailants 
were  likely  to  do,  was  to  throw  burning  torches  over 
the  walls  into  the  besieged  towns.  Again  and  again 
they  were  burnt — houses,  churches,  and  all. 

The  Normans  were  constantly  improving,  how- 
ever, in  their  fashions  of  building,  and  had  made  a 
great  advance  upon  the  Roman  architecture  which 


240  THE   STORY  OF  THE  XORMANS. 

they  had  found  when  they  came  to  Neustria.  Their 
work  has  a  distinct  character  of  its  own,  and  perhaps 
their  very  ignorance  of  the  more  ornate  and  less  ef- 
fective work  which  had  begun  to  prevail  in  Italy, 
gave  them  freedom  to  work  out  their  own  simple 
ideas.  Instead  of  busying  themselves  with  petty  or- 
namentation and  tawdry  imagery,  they  trusted  for 
effect  to  the  principles  of  height  and  size.  Their 
churches  are  more  beautiful  than  any  in  the  world; 
their  very  plainness  and  severity  gives  them  a  beau- 
tiful dignity,  and  their  slender  pillars  and  high  arches 
make  one  think  of  nothing  so  much  as  the  tall  pine 
forests  of  the  North.  What  the  Normans  did  with 
the  idea  of  the  Roman  arch,  they  did  too  in  many 
other  ways.  They  had  a  gift  of  good  taste  that  w^as 
most  exceptional  in  that  time,  and  especially  in  that 
part  of  Europe  ;  and  whatever  had  been  the  power 
and  efficiency  of  the  last  impulse  of  civilization  from 
the  South,  this  impulse  from  the  North  did  a  noble 
work  in  its  turn.  Normandy  herself,  in  the  days  of 
William  and  Matilda,  was  fully  alive  and  pervaded 
with  dreams  of  growth  and  expansion. 

Nobody  can  tell  how  early  the  idea  of  the  conquest 
of  England  began  to  be  a  favorite  Norman  dream. 
In  those  days  there  was  always  a  possibility  of  some 
day  owning  one's  neighbor's  land,  and  with  weak 
Eadward  on  the  throne  of  England,  only  too  ready  to 
listen  to  the  suggestions  and  demands  of  his  Norman 
barons  and  favorite  counsellors,  it  must  have  seemed 
always  an  easier,  not  to  say  more  possible,  thing  to 
take  one  step  farther.  There  w^as  an  excellent  ante- 
chamber across  the  Channel   for  the  crowded  court 


CRYPT  Ob  IviUUNT  ST.  MICHELt 


242  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

and  fields  of  Normandy,  and  William  and  Eadward 
were  old  friends  and  companions.  In  1051,  when 
Normandy  was  at  peace,  and  England  was  at  any 
rate  quiet  and  sullen,  submissive  to  rule,  but  lying 
fast,  bound  like  a  rebellious  slave  that  has  been  sold 
to  a  new  master,  William  and  a  fine  company  of 
lords  and  gentlemen  went  a-visiting. 

All  those  lords  and  gentlemen  kept  their  eyes  very 
wide  open,  and  took  good  notice  of  what  they  saw. 

It  was  not  a  common  thing  by  any  means,  for  a 
great  duke  to  go  pleasuring.  He  was  apt  to  be  too 
busy  at  home  ;  but  William's  affairs  were  in  good 
order,  and  his  cousin  of  England  was  a  feeble  man 
and  more  than  half  a  Norman  ;  besides,  he  had  no 
heir,  and  in  course  of  time  the  English  throne  would 
lack  a  proper  king.  The  idea  of  such  a  holiday 
might  have  pleased  the  anxious  suitor  of  Matilda  of 
Flanders,  too,  and  have  beguiled  the  hard  time  of 
waiting.  Nobody  stopped  to  remember  that  English 
law  gave  no  right  of  succession  to  mere  inheritance 
or  descent.  Ralph  the  Timid  was  ^thelred's  grand- 
son ;  but  who  would  think  of  making  him  king  in- 
stead of  such  a  man  as  William?  The  poor  banished 
prince  at  the  Hungarian  court,  half  a  world  away, 
was  not  so  much  as  missed  or  wished  for.  Godwine 
was  banished,  Harold  was  in  Ireland  ;  besides,  it 
must  be  urged  that  there  was  something  fine  in  the 
notion  of  adding  such  a  state  as  Normandy  to  Eng- 
land. England  was  not  robbed,  but  magnificently 
endowed  by  such  a  proposal. 

Eadward  was  amiably  glad  to  see  this  brave  Duke 
of  the  Normans.     There  was  much  to  talk  over  to- 


MATILDA    OF  FLANDERS.  243 

gether  of  the  past ;  the  present  had  its  questions, 
too,  and  it  was  good  to  have  such  a  strong  arm  to 
lean  upon  ;  what  could  have  been  more  natural  than 
that  the  future  also  should  have  its  veil  drawn  aside, 
not  too  rashly  or  irreverently?  When  Eadward  had 
been  gathered  to  his  fellow  saints,  pioneered  by  vi- 
sions that  did  not  fade,  and  panoplied  by  authentic 
relics— nay,  when  the  man  of  prayers  and  cloistered 
quietness  was  kindly  taken  away  from  the  discordant 
painfulness  of  an  earthly  kingdom,  what  more  easy 
than  to  dream  of  this  warlike  William  in  his  place ; 
William,  a  man  of  war  and  soldiery,  for  whom  the 
government  of  two  great  kingdoms  in  one,  would 
only  harden  and  employ  the  tense  muscles  and  heavy 
brain  ;  would  only  provide  his  own  rightful  business? 
And,  while  Eadward  thought  of  this  plan,  William 
was  Norman,  too,  and  with  the  careful  diplomacy  of 
his  race,  he  joined  the  daring  and  outspokenness  of 
old  Rolf  the  Ganger  ;  he  came  back  with  his  lords 
and  gentlemen  to  Normandy,  weighed  down  with 
presents — every  man  of  them  who  had  not  stayed 
behind  for  better  gain's  sake.  He  came  back  to 
Normandy  the  acknowledged  successor  to  the  Eng- 
lish crown.  Heaven  send  dampness  now  and  bleak 
winds,  and  let  poor  Eadward's  sufferings  be  short ! 
There  was  work  for  a  man  to  do  in  ruling  England, 
and  Eadward  could  not  do  it.  The  Englishmen  were 
stupid  and  dull  ;  they  ate  too  much  and  drank  too 
much ;  they  clung  with  both  hands  to  their  old  no- 
tions of  state-craft  and  government.  It  was  the  old 
story  of  the  hare  and  the  tortoise,  but  the  hare  was 
fleet  of  foot  and  would  win. 


244  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

Win  ?  Yes,  this  race  and  that  race  ;  and  yet  the 
tortoise  was  going  to  be  somehow  made  over  new, 
and  keep  a  steady  course  in  the  right  path,  and  learn 
speed,  and  get  to  be  better  than  the  old  tortoise  as 
the  years  went  on  and  on. 

Eadward  had  no  right  to  will  away  the  kingship  of 
England  ;  but  this  must  have  been  the  time  of  the 
promise  that  the  Normans  claimed,  and  that  their 
chroniclers  have  recorded.  All  Normandy  believed 
in  this  promise,  and  were  ready  to  fight  for  it  in  after 
years.  It  is  most  likely  that  Eadward  was  only  too 
glad,  at  this  date,  to  make  a  private  arrangement 
with  the  duke.  He  was  on  the  worst  of  terms  just 
then  with  Godwine  and  his  family,  and  consequently 
with  the  displeased  English  party,  who  were  their 
ardent  upholders.  Indeed,  a  great  many  of  these 
men  were  in  Ireland  with  Harold,  having  turned  their 
backs  upon  a  king  and  court  that  were  growing  more 
friendly  to  Normandy  and  disloyal  to  England  day 
by  day. 

The  very  next  year  after  William's  triumphal  visit 
the  Confessor  was  obliged  to  change  his  course  in  the 
still  stormier  sea  of  English  politics.  The  Normans 
had  shown  their  policy  too  soon,  and  there  was  a 
widespread  disapproval,  and  an  outcry  for  Godwine's 
return  from  exile.  Baldwin  of  Flanders,  and  King 
Henry  of  France,  had  already  been  petitioning  for 
his  pardon,  and  suddenly  Godwine  himself  came  sail- 
ing up  the  Thames,  and  London  eagerly  put  itself 
under  his  control.  Then  Eadward  the  Confessor  con- 
sented to  a  reconciliation,  there  being  no  apparent 
alternative,   and   a  troop   of  disappointed    and    dis- 


MATILDA    OF  FLANDERS.  ^45 

placed  foreigners  went  back  to  Normandy.  Robert 
of  Jumieges,  was  among  them.  The  Anglo-Saxon 
chronicle  tells  us  gravely,  that  at  Walton-on-the- 
Naze,  "  they  were  lighted  on  a  crazy  ship,  and  the 
archbishop  betook  himself  at  once  over  the  sea,  leav- 
ing behind  him  his  pall  and  all  his  Christendom  here 
in  the  land  even  as  God  willed  it,  because  he  had 
taken  ui)on  him  that  worship  as  God  willed  it  not." 
The  [ilea  for  taking  away  his  place  was  "  because  he 
had  don  J  more  than  any  to  cause  strife  between 
Godwin  J  and  the  king  "  ;  and  Godwine's  power  was 
again  the  strongest  in  England. 

The  great  earl  lived  only  a  few  months  longer, 
and  when  he  died  his  son  Harold  took  his  place. 
Already  the  eyes  of  many  Englishmen  were  ready  to 
see  in  him  their  future  king.  Already  he  stands  out 
a  bold  figure,  with  a  heart  that  was  true  to  England, 
and  though  the  hopes  that  centred  in  him  were 
broken  centuries  ago,  we  cannot  help  catching  some- 
thing of  the  hope  and  spirit  of  the  time.  We  are  al- 
most ready  to  forget  that  this  brave  leader,  the 
champion  of  that  elder  English  people,  was  doomed 
to  fall  before  the  on-rushing  of  a  new  element  of 
manhood,  a  tributary  stream  that  came  to  swell  the 
mighty  channel  of  the  English  race  and  history. 
William  the  Norman  was  busy  at  home,  meanwhile. 
The  old  hostility  between  Normandy  and  Flanders, 
which  dated  from  the  time  of  William  Longsword's 
murder,  was  now  at  a  certain  end,  by  reason  of  the 
duke's  marriage.  Matilda,  the  noble  Flemish  lady, 
the  descendant  of  good  King  Alfred  of  England,  had 
brought  peace  and  friendliness  as  not  the  least  of 


246  THE   STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

her  dowry,  and  all  fear  of  any  immediate  antagpnism 
from  that  quarter  was  at  an  end. 

By  the  alliance  with  the  kings  of  France,  the  Nor- 
man dukes  had  been  greatly  helped  to  gain  their 
present  eminence,  and  to  the  Norman  dukes  the 
French  kings,  in  their  turn,  owed  their  stability  upon 
their  own  thrones  ;  they  had  fought  for  each  other 
and  stood  by  each  other  again  and  again.  Now, 
there  was  a  rift  between  them  that  grew  wider  and 
wider — a  rift  that  came  from  jealousy  and  fear  of  the 
Normans'  wealth  and  enormous  growth  in  strength. 
They  were  masters  of  the  Breton  country,  and  had 
close  ties  of  relationship,  moreover,  with  not  only 
Brittany,  but  with  Flanders  and  the  smaller  county 
of  Ponthieu,  which  lay  between  them  and  the  Flem- 
ings. Normandy  stretched  her  huge  bulk  and 
strength  between  France  and  the  sea;  she  com- 
manded the  French  rivers,  the  French  borders  ;  she 
was  too  much  to  be  feared  ;  if  ever  her  pride  were  to 
be  brought  down,  and  the  old  vassalage  insisted 
upon,  it  could  not  be  too  soon.  Henry  forgot  all 
that  he  owed  to  the  Normans'  protection,  and  pro- 
voked them  by  incessant  hostilities — secret  and 
open  treacheries, — and  the  fox  waged  war  upon  the 
lion,  until  a  spirit  of  enmity  was  roused  that  hardly 
slept  again  for  five  hundred  years. 

There  were  other  princes  ready  enough  to  satisfy 
their  fear  and  jealousy.  The  lands  of  the  conspira- 
tors stretched  from  Burgundy  to  the  Pyrenees.  Bur- 
gund\',  Blois,  Ponthieu,  Aquitaine,  and  Poictiers  all 
joined  in  the  chase  for  this  William  the  Bastard,  the 
chief  of  the  hated   pirates.     All   the  old  gibes  and 


MATILDA    OF  FLANDERS.  247 

taunts,  and  contemptuous  animosity  were  revived  ; 
now  was  the  time  to  put  an  end  to  the  Norman's 
outrageous  greed  of  power  and  insolence  of  posses- 
sion, and  the  great  alHed  army  divided  itself  in  two 
parts,  and  marched  away  to  Normandy. 

King  Henry's  brother,  Odo,  turned  his  forces  tow- 
ard Rouen,  and  the  king  himself  took  a  more  south- 
erly direction,  by  the  way  of  Lisieux  to  the  sea. 
They  meant,  at  any  rate,  to  pen  the  duke  into  his 
old  Danish  region  of  the  Cotentin  and  Bessin  dis- 
tricts ;  all  his  eastern  lands,  the  grant  from  Charles 
the  Simple,  with  the  rest,  were  to  be  seized  upon  and 
taken  back  by  their  original  owners. 

Things  had  changed  since  the  battle  of  Val-es- 
dunes.  There  was  no  division  now  among  the  Nor- 
man lords,  and  as  the  word  to  arm  against  France 
was  passed  from  one  feudal  chieftan  to  another, 
there  was  a  great  mustering  of  horse  and  foot.  So 
the  king  had  made  up  his  mind  to  punish  them,  and 
to  behave  as  if  he  had  a  right  to  take  back  the  gift 
that  was  unwillingly  wrung  from  Charles  the  Simple. 
Normandy  is  our  own,  not  Henry's,  was  the  angry 
answer  ;  and  Ralph  of  Tesson,  and  the  soldiers  of 
Falaise,  the  Lord  of  Mortain,  the  men  of  Bessin,  and 
the  barons  of  the  Cotentin  were  ready  to  take  the 
field,  and  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder.  There  had 
been  a  change  indeed,  in  Normandy  ;  and  from  one 
end  of  it  to  the  other  there  was  a  cry  of  shame 
and  treachery  upon  Henry,  the  faithless  ally  and 
overlord.  They  had  learned  to  know  William  as  a 
man  not  against  their  interests  but  with  them,  and 
for  them  and  the  glory  of  Normandy  ;  and  they  had 


248  THE    SIORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

not  SO  soon  forgotten  the  day  of  Val-es-dunes  and 
their  bitter  mistake. 

The  king's  force  had  come  into  the  country  by 
the  frontier  city  of  Aumale,  and  had  been  doing 
every  sort  of  damage  that  human  ingenuity  could  in- 
vent between  conqueror  and  vanquished.  It  was 
complained  by  those  who  escaped  that  the  French 
were  worse  than  Saracens.  Old  people,  women,  and 
children  were  abused  or  quickly  butchered  ;  men  were 
taken  prisoners;  churches  and  houses  were  burnt  or 
pulled  to  pieces.  There  was  a  town  called  Morte- 
mer  which  had  the  ill-luck  to  be  chosen  for  the 
French  head-quarters,  because  it  was  then  a  good 
place  for  getting  supplies  and  lodging,  though  now 
there  is  nothing  left  of  it  but  the  remains  of  an  an- 
cient tower  and  a  few  dwellings  and  gardens.  Here 
the  feasting  and  revelry  went  on  as  if  Normandy 
were  already  fallen.  All  day  there  were  raids  in  the 
neighboring  country,  and  bringing  in  of  captives,  and 
plunder;  and  William's  spies  came  to  Mortemer,  and 
went  home  to  tell  the  duke  the  whole  story  of  the 
hateful  scene.  There  was  a  huge  army  collected 
there  fearless  of  surprise  ;  this  was  the  place  to  strike 
a  blow,  and  the  duke  and  his  captains  made  a  rapid 
march  by  night  so  that  they  reached  Mortemer  be- 
fore daylight. 

There  was  no  weapon  more  cherished  by  the  pi- 
rates' grandchildren  than  a  blazing  fire-brand,  and  the 
army  stole  through  the  town  while  their  enemies  still 
slept,  stupid  with  eating  and  drinking,  (u- weary  from 
the  previous  day's  harrying.  They  waked  to  find 
their  houses  in  flames,  the  roofs  crackling,  a  horrid 


MATILDA    OF  FLANDERS.  249 

glare  of  light,  a  bewilderment  of  smoke  and  shouts ; 
the  Normans  ready  to  kill,  to  burn,  to  pen  them 
back  by  sturdy  guards  at  the  streets'  ends.  There 
was  a  courageous  resistance  to  this  onslaught,  but 
from  early  morning  until  the  day  was  well  spent  the 
fight  went  on,  and  most  of  the  invaders  were  cut  to 
pieces.  The  dead  men  lay  thick  in  the  streets,  and 
scattered  everywhere  about  the  adjacent  fields. 
"  Only  those  were  spared  who  were  worth  sparing 
for  the  sake  of  their  ransom.  Many  a  Norman  sol- 
dier, down  to  the  meanest  serving-man  in  the  ranks, 
carried  off  his  French  prisoner;  many  a  one  carried 
off  his  two  or  three  goodly  steeds  with  their  rich 
harness.  In  all  Normandy  there  was  not  a  prison 
that  was  not  full  of  Frenchmen."  *  All  this  was 
done  with  scarcely  any  loss  to  the  Normans,  at  least 
so  we  are  told,  and  the  news  came  to  William  that 
same  evening,  and  made  him  thank  God  with  great 
rejoicing.  It  would  seem  as  if  only  a  God  of  battles 
could  be  a  very  near  and  welcome  sovereign  to  this 
soldier-lord  of  Normandy. 

The  victor  had  still  another  foe  to  meet.  The 
king's  command  was  still  to  be  vanquished,  and  per- 
haps it  might  be  done  with  even  less  bloodshed. 
The  night  had  fallen,  and  he  chose  Ralph  of  Toesny, 
son  of  that  Roger  who  sought  the  Spanish  kingdom, 
tliie  enemy  of  his  own  ill-championed  childhood,  to 
go  as  messenger  to  the  king's  tent.  The  two  chief- 
tains cannot  have  been  encamped  very  far  apart,  for 
it  was  still  dark  when  Ralph  rode  fast  on  his  errand. 
He  crept  close  to  where  the  king  lay  in  the  darkness, 
*  Freeman. 


250  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

and  in  the  glimmer  of  dawn  he  gave  a  doleful  shout: 
"  Wake,  wake,  you  Frenchmen  !  You  sleep  too  long; 
go  and  bury  your  friends  who  lie  dead  at  Morte- 
mer  "  ;  then  he  stole  away  again  unseen,  while  the 
startled  king  and  his  followers  whispered  together 
of  such  a  terrible  omen.  Ill  news  travels  apace ; 
they  were  not  long  in  doubt ;  a  panic  seized  the 
whole  host.  Not  for  Rouen  now,  or  the  Norman 
cities,  but  for  Paris  the  king  marched  as  fast  as  he 
could  go  ;  and  nobody  gave  him  chase,  so  that  be- 
fore long  he  and  his  counts  were  safe  at  home  again 
with  the  thought  of  their  folly  for  company.  Craft 
is  not  so  fine  a  grace  as  courage  ;  but  craft  served  the 
Normans  many  a  good  turn  ;  and  this  was  not  the 
least  glorious  of  William's  victories,  though  no  blood 
was  spilt,  though  the  king  was  driven  away  and  no 
sword  lifted  to  punish  him.  The  Normans  loved  a 
bit  of  fun  ;  we  can  imagine  how  well  they  liked  to 
tell  the  story  of  spoiling  half  an  army  with  hardly  a 
scratch  for  themselves,  and  making  the  other  half 
take  to  its  heels  at  the  sound  of  Ralph  de  Toesny's 
gloomy  voice  in  the  night.  There  were  frequent 
hostilities  after  this  along  the  borders,  but  no  more 
leagues  of  the  French  counts  ;  there  was  a  castle  of 
Breteuil  built  to  stand  guard  against  the  king's  cas- 
tle of  Tillicres,  and  William  Fitz-Osbern  was  made 
commander  of  it  ;  there  was  an  expedition  of  the 
Count  of  Maine,  aided  by  Geoffrey  Martel  and  a 
somewhat  unwilling  Breton  prince,  against  the  south- 
ern castle  of  Ambrieres.  But  when  William  has- 
tened to  its  relief  the  besiegers  took  to  flight,  except 
the  Lord  of  Maine,  who  was  captured  and  put  into 


MATILDA    OF  FLANDERS.  251 

prison  until  he  was  willing  to  acknowledge  himself 
the  duke's  vassal ;  and  after  this  there  were  three 
years  of  peace  in  Normandy. 

It  had  grown  to  be  a  most  orderly  country.  Wil- 
liam's famous  curfew  bell  was  proved  to  be  an  effi- 
cient police  force.  Every  household's  fire  was  out  at 
eight  o'clock  in  winter,  and  sunset  in  summer,  and 
its  lights  extinguished  ;  every  man  was  in  his  own 
dwelling-place  then  under  dire  penalty  ;  he  was  a 
strict  governor,  but  in  the  main  a  just  one — this  son 
of  the  lawless  Robert.  He  upheld  the  rights  of  the 
poor  landholders  and  widows,  and  while  he  was  feared 
he  was  respected.  It  was  now  that  he  gave  so  much 
thought  to  the  rights  of  the  Church,  or  the  following 
out  of  his  own  dislike,  in  the  dismissal  of  his  Uncle 
Mauger,  the  primate  of  the  duchy. 

There  is  still  another  battle  to  be  recorded  in  this 
chapter, — one  which  for  real  importance  is  classed 
with  the  two  famous  days  of  Val-es-dunes  and  Hast- 
ings,— the  battle  fought  at  Varaville,  against  the 
French  king  and  his  Angevine  ally,  who  took  it  into 
their  silly  heads  to  go  a-plundering  on  the  duke's 
domain. 

Bayeux  and  Caen  were  to  be  sacked,  and  all  the 
surrounding  country  ;  besides  this,  the  allies  were 
going  to  march  to  the  sea  to  show  the  Bastard  that 
he  could  not  lock  them  up  in  their  inland  country 
and  shake  the  key  in  their  faces.  William  watched 
them  as  a  cat  watches  a  mouse  and  lets  the  poor 
thing  play  and  feast  itself  in  fancied  security.*  He 
had  the  patience  to  let  the  invaders  rob  and  burn, 
and  spoil  the  crops  ;  to  let  them  live  in  his  towns, 


252  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

and  the  French  king  himself  hold  a  temporary  court 
in  a  fine  new  abbey  of  the  Bessin,  until  everybody 
thought  he  was  afraid  of  this  mouse,  and  that  all  the 
Normans  were  cowards;  then  the  quick,  fierce  paw 
struck  out,  and  the  blow  fell.  It  is  a  piteous  story  of 
war,  that  battle  of  Varaville  ! 

There  was  a  ford  where  the  French,  laden  with 
their  weight  of  spoils,  meant  to  cross  the  river  Dive 
into  the  district  of  Auge.  On  the  Varaville  side  the 
land  is  marshy ;  across  the  river,  and  at  no  great  dis- 
tance, there  is  a  range  of  hills  which  lie  between  the 
bank  of  the  Dive  and  the  rich  country  of  Lisieux. 
The  French  had  meant  to  go  to  Lisieux  when  they 
started  out  on  their  other  enterprise.  But  William 
had  waited  for  this  moment ;  part  of  the  army  under 
the  king's  command  had  crossed  over,  and  were  even 
beginning  to  climb  the  hills.  The  rear-guard  with 
the  great  baggage  trains  were  on  the  other  bank, 
when  there  was  a  deplorable  surprise.  William,  with 
a  body  of  trained  troops,  had  come  out  from  Falaise  ; 
he  had  recruited  his  army  with  all  the  peasants  of  the 
district  ;  armed  with  every  rude  weapon  that  could 
be  gathered  in  such  haste,  they  were  only  too  ready 
to  fall  upon  the  French  mercilessly. 

The  tide  was  flowing  in  with  disastrous  haste,  and 
the  Frenchmen  had  not  counted  upon  this  awful  foe. 
Their  army  was  cut  in  two  ;  the  king  looked  down 
in  misery  from  the  height  he  had  thoughtlessly 
gained.  Now  we  hear  almost  for  the  first  time  of 
that  deadly  shower  of  Norman  arrows,  famous  enough 
since  in  history.  Down  they  came  with  their  sharp 
talons  ;  the  poor  French  were  huddling  together  at 


MATILDA    OF  FLANDERS. 


253 


the  river's  brink  ;  there  was  no  shelter ;  the  bowmen 
shot  at  them  ;  the  peasants  beat  them  with  flails  and 
scythes ;  into  the  rushing  water  they  went,  and 
floated  away  writhing.  There  was  not  a  man  left 
alive  in  troop  after  troop,  and  there  were  men  enough 
of  the  Normans  who  knew  the  puzzling,  marsh)- 
ground  to  chase  and  capture  those  other  troopers 
who  tried  to  run  away. 
Alas  for  the  lilies  of  France  ! 
how  they  were  trailed  in 
the  mire  of  that  riverside  at 
Varaville  !  It  was  a  mas- 
sacre rather  than  a  battle, 
and  Henry's  spirit  was  hum- 
bled. "  Heavy-hearted,  he 
never  held  spear  or  shield 
again,"  says  the  chronicle. 
There  were  no  more  ex- 
peditions against  Norman- 
dy in  his  time ;  he  sued 
for  a  truce,  and  paid  as 
the  price  for  it,  the  castle 
of    Tillieres,    and    so    that 

stronghold  came  back  to  its  rightful  lords  again. 
Within  two  years  he  died,  being  an  old  man,  and  we 
can  well  believe  a  disappointed  one.  Geoffrey  Mar- 
tel  died  too,  that  year,  the  most  troublesome  of  the 
Bastard's  great  neighbors.  This  was  1060 ;  and  it 
was  in  that  year  that  Harold  of  England  first  came 
over  to  Normandy — an  unlucky  visit  enough,  as  time 
proved.  His  object  was  partly  to  take  a  look  at  the 
political  state  of  Gaul ;  but  if  he  meant  to  sound  the 


A  NORMAN   ARCHER. 


254  THE   STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

hearts  of  the  duke's  neighbors  in  regard  to  him,  as 
some  people  have  thought,  he  could  not  have  chosen 
a  more  unlucky  time.  If  he  meant  to  speak  for  sup- 
port in  case  William  proved  to  be  England's  enemy 
in  days  to  come,  he  was  too  late  ;  those  who  would 
have  been  most  ready  to  listen  were  beyond  the 
reach  of  human  intrigues,  and  their  deaths  had  the 
effect  of  favoring  William's  supremacy,  not  dis- 
puting it. 

There  is  no  record  of  the  great  earl's  meeting  the 
Norman  duke  at  all  on  this  first  journey.  If  we  had 
a  better  account  of  it,  we  might  solve  many  vexed 
questions.  Some  scholars  think  that  it  was  during 
this  visit  that  Harold  was  inveigled  into  taking  oath 
to  uphold  William's  claim  to  the  English  crown, 
but  the  records  nearly  all  belong  to  the  religious 
character  of  the  expedition.  Harold  followed  King 
Cnut's  example  in  going  on- a  pilgrimage  to  Rome, 
and  brought  back  various  treasures  for  his  abbey  of 
Waltham,  the  most  favored  religious  house  of  his 
earldom.  He  has  suffered  much  misrepresentation, 
no  doubt,  at  the  hands  of  the  monkish  writers,  for  he 
neglected  their  claims  in  proportion  as  he  favored 
their  secular  brethren,  for  whom  the  abbey  was  de- 
signed. A  monk  retired  from  the  world  for  the  ben- 
efit of  his  own  soul,  but  a  priest  gave  his  life  in  teach- 
ing and  preaching  to  his  fellow-men.  We  are  told 
that  Harold  had  no  prejudice  against  even  a  married 
priest,  and  this  was  rank  heresy  and  ecclesiastical 
treason  in  the  minds  of  many  cloistered  brethren. 


XIII. 

HAROLD    THE    ENGLISHMAN. 

"  The  languid  pulse  of  England  starts 
And  bounds  beneath  your  words  of  power." 

— Whittier. 


Just  here  we  might  well  stop  to  consider  the  true 
causes  and  effects  of  war.  Seen  in  the  largest  way 
possible,  from  this  side  of  life,  certain  forces  of  devel- 
opment are  enabled  to  assert  themselves  only  by 
outgrowing,  outnumbering,  outfighting  their  op- 
posers.  CWar  is  the  conflict  between  ideas  that  are 
going  to  live  and  ideas  that  have  passed  their  ma- 
turity and  are  going  to  die.  "^Men  possess  themselves 
of  a  new  truth,  a  clearer  perception  of  the  affairs  of 
humanity  ;  progress  itself  is  made  possible  with  its 
larger  share  of  freedom  for  the  individual  or  for  na- 
tions only  by  a  relentless  overthrowing  of  outgrown 
opinions.  It  is  only  by  new  combinations  of  races, 
new  assertions  of  the  old  unconquerable  forces, 
that  the  spiritual  kingdom  gains  or  rather  shows  its 
power.  When  men  claim  that  humanity  can  only 
move  round  in  a  circle,  that  the  world  has  lost  many 
things,  that  the  experience  of  humanity  is  like 
the  succession  of  the  seasons,  and  that  there  is  re- 
production but  not  progression,  it  is  well  to  take  a 

255 


256  THE    STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

closer  look,  to  sec  how  by  combination,  by  stimulus 
of  example,  and  power  of  spiritual  forces  and  God's 
great  purposes,  this  whole  world  is  nearer  every  )car 
lo  the  highest  level  any  fortunate  part  of  it  has  ever 
gained.  Wars  may  appear  to  delay,  but  in  due  time 
they  surely  raise  whole  nations  of  men  to  higher 
levels,  whether  by  preparing  for  new  growths  or  by 
mixing  the  new  and  old.  Generals  of  battalions 
and  unreckoned  camp-followers  alike  are  effects  of 
some  great  change,  not  causes  of  it.  And  no  war 
was  ever  fought  that  was  not  an  evidence  that  one 
element  in  it  had  outgrown  the  other  and  was  bound 
to  get  itself  manifested  and  better  understood.  The 
first  effect  of  war  is  incidental  and  temporary ;  the 
secondary  effect  makes  a  link  in  the  grand  chain  of 
the  spiritual  education  and  development  of  the 
world. 

We  grow  confused  in  trying  to  find  our  way 
through  the  intricate  tangle  of  stories  about  the 
relation  of  Harold  and  William  to  each  other,  with 
their  promises  and  oaths  and  understanding  of  each 
other's  position  in  regard  to  the  throne  of  England. 
Of  course,  William  knew  that  Harold  had  a  hope  of 
succeeding  the  Confessor.  There  was  nobody  so  fit 
for  it  in  some  respects  as  he — nobody  who  knew  and 
loved  England  any  better,  or  was  more  important 
to  her  welfare.  He  had  fought  for  her;  he  was  his 
father's  son,  and  the  eyes  of  man}'  southern  English- 
men would  turn  toward  him  if  the  question  of  the 
succession  were  publicly  put  in  the  Witanagemot. 
He  might  have  defamersand  enviers,  but  the  Earl  of 
the  West  Saxons  was  the  foremost  man  in  England. 


Harold  the  englishman.  2$y 

He  had  a  right  to  expect  recognition  from  his  coun- 
trymen. The  kingship  was  not  hereditary,  and  Ead- 
ward  had  no  heirs  if  it  had  been.  Eadward  trusted 
him  ;  perhaps  he  had  let  fall  a  hint  that  he  meant  to 
recommend  his  wise  earl  as  successor,  even  though 
it  were  a  repetition  of  another  promise  made  to 
William  when  Harold  was  a  banished  man  and  the 
house  of  Godwine  serving  its  term  of  disgrace  and 
exile. 

It  appears  that  Eadward  had  undergone  an  inter- 
mediate season  of  distrusting  either  of  these  two 
prominent  candidates  for  succession.  But  the  mem- 
ory of  Eadward  Ironside  was  fondly  cherished  in 
England,  and  his  son,  Eadward  the  Outlaw,  the  law- 
ful heir  of  the  crown,  was  summoned  back  to  his 
inheritance  from  Hungary.  There  was  great  rejoi- 
cing, and  the  Atheling's  wife  and  his  three  beautiful 
children,  a  son  and  two  daughters,  were  for  a  time 
great  favorites  and  kindled  an  instant  loyalty  all  too 
soon  to  fade.  Alas  !  that  Eadward  should  have  re- 
turned from  his  long  banishment  to  sicken  and  die  in 
London  just  as  life  held  out  such  fair  promises ;  and 
again  the  Confessor's  mind  was  troubled  by  the 
doubtful  future  of  his  kingdom. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  we  trust  to  the  Norman 
records  now, — not  always  unconfirmed  by  the  early 
English  historians, — we  must  take  into  account  many 
objections  to,  as  well  as  admissions  of,  Harold's 
claim.  Eadward's  inclination  seems  often  to  swerve 
toward  his  Norman  cousin,  who  alone  seemed  able 
to  govern  England  properly  or  to  hold  her  jealous 
forces  well  in  hand.     The  great  Eno-lish  earls  were 


258  THE   STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

in  fact  nearly  the  same  as  kings  of  their  provinces. 
There  was  much  opposition  and  lack  of  agreement 
between  them  ;  there  was  a  good  deal  of  animosity 
along  the  borders  in  certain  sections,  and  a  deep  race 
prejudice  between  the  Danes  of  Northumberland 
and  the  men  of  the  south.  The  Danes  from  over- 
sea were  scheming  to  regain  the  realm  that  had  be- 
longed to  their  own  great  ruler  Cnut,  and  so  there 
was  a  prospect  of  civil  war  or  foreign  invasion  which 
needed  a  strong  hand.  Harold's  desire  to  make 
himself  king  was  not  in  accordance  with  the  English 
customs.  He  was  not  of  the  royal  house  ;  he  was 
only  one  of  the  English  carls,  and  held  on  certain 
grounds  no  better  right  to  pre-eminence  than  they. 
Leofric  and  Siward  would  have  looked  upon  him  as 
an  undeserving  interloper,  who  had  no  right  to  rule 
over  them.  "  The  grandsons  of  Leofric,  who  ruled 
half  England,"  says  one  historian,  "  would  scarceK- 
submit  to  the  dominion  of  an  equal.  .  .  .  No 
individual  who  Avas  not  of  an  ancient  royal  house 
had  ever  been  able  to  maintain  himself  upon  an 
Anglo-Saxon  throne." 

Before  we  yield  too  much  to  our  natural  senti- 
ment over  the  story  of  this  unfortunate  "  last  of  the 
Saxon  kings,"  it  is  well  to  remember  the  bad  and 
hindering  result  to  England  if  Harold  had  conquered 
instead  of  fallen  on  the  battle-field  of  Hastings. 
The  weakness  of  England  was  in  her  lack  of  unity 
and  her  existing  system  of  local  gov'^ernment. 

There  are  two  or  three  plausible  stories  about 
Harold's  purpose  in  going  to  Normandy.  It  is 
sometimes  impossible  in  tracing  this  portion  of  his- 


HAROLD  THE  ENGLISHMAIT, 


259 


tory  through  both  English  and  Norman  chronicles 
to  find  even  the  same  incidents  mentioned.  Each 
historian  has  such  a  different  proof  and  end  in  view, 
and  it  is  only  by  the  closest  study,  and  a  good  deal  of 


CUY,  COUNT  OF  PONTHIEU.     BAYEUX  TAPESTRY. 

guesswork  beside,  that  a  reasonable  account  of  Har- 
old's second  visit,  and  the  effects  qf  it,  can  be  made 
out.  We  may  listen  for  a  moment  to  the  story  of 
his  being  sent  by  Eadward  to  announce  that  the  Eng- 
lish crown  was  to  be  given  to  the  Norman  duke  by 


26o  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

Eadward's  own  recommendation  to  the  council,  or  we 
may  puzzle  our  way  through  an  improbable  tale  that 
Godwine's  son,  Wolfnoth,  and  grandson,  Hakon, 
were  still  held  by  William  as  hostages  between 
Eadward  and  Godwine,  though  Godwine's  family 
had  long  since  been  formally  reinstated  and  re-en- 
dowed. Harold  is  supposed  to  have  gone  over  to 
demand  their  release,  though  Eadward  mournfully 
warned  him  of  danger  and  treachery. 

The  most  probable  explanation  is  that  Harold 
was  bound  on  a  pleasure  excursion  with  some  of  his 
family  either  to  Flanders  or  some  part  of  his  own 
country,  and  was  shipwrecked  and  cast  ashore  on  the 
coast  of  Ponthieu.  All  accounts  agree  about  this, 
though  they  differ  so  much  about  the  port  he  meant 
to  make  and  his  secret  purpose. 

In  those  days  wrecking  was  a  sadly  common  prac- 
tice, and  the  more  illustrious  a  rescued  man  might 
be,  the  larger  ransom  was  demanded.  When  we  re- 
flect that  much  of  the  brutal  and  lawless  custom  of 
wrecking  survived  almost  if  not  quite  to  our  own 
time  in  England,  we  cannot  expect  much  from  the 
leniency  of  the  Count  of  Ponthieu's  subjects,  or  in- 
deed much  clemency  from  that  petty  sovereign  him- 
self. Harold  was  thrown  into  prison  and  suffered 
many  things  there  before  the  Duke  of  Normandy 
could  receive  his  message  and  come  to  his  relief. 

We  might  imagine  for  ourselves  now  a  fine  histori- 
cal picture  of  William  the  Conqueror  seated  in  his 
palace  at  Rouen,  busy  with  affairs  of  church  and 
state.  He  has  grown  stouter,  and  his  face  shows 
marks  of  thought  and  care  which  were  not  all  there 


HAROLD   THE   EAGLISHMAN.  26 1 

when  he  went  to  England.  His  hair  is  worn  thin 
by  his  helmet,  and  the  frank,  courteous  look  of  his 
youth  has  given  place  to  sternness  and  insistance, 
though  his  smile  is  ready  to  be  summoned  when  oc- 
casion demands.  He  is  a  man  who  could  still  be 
mild  with  the  gentle,  and  pleasantry  was  a  weapon 
and  tool  if  it  were  not  an  unconscious  habit.  Greater 
in  state  and  less  in  soul,  says  one  historian,  who 
writes  of  him  from  an  English  standpoint  at  this 
hour  in  his  career.  A  Norman  gentleman  lived  deli- 
cately in  those  days  ;  he  was  a  worthy  successor  of 
a  Roman  gentleman  in  the  luxurious  days  of  the 
empire,  but  not  yet  enfeebled  and  belittled  by  ease 
and  extravagance — though  we  do  listen  with  amuse- 
ment to  a  rumor  that  the  elegant  successors  of  Rolf 
the  Ganger  were  very  dependent  upon  warm  baths, 
and  a  good  sousing  with  cold  water  was  a  much 
dreaded  p.unishment  and  penance.  The  reign  of  the 
valet  had  become  better  assured  than  the  reign  (in 
England)  of  the  offspring  of  Woden  and  the  house 
of  Cerdic. 

But  we  forget  to  watch  the  great  Duke  of  the  Nor- 
mans as  he  sits  in  his  royal  chamber  and  listens  to  a 
messenger  from  the  prisoned  Earl  of  the  West 
Saxons.  It  is  a  moment  of  tremendous  significance, 
for  by  the  assistance  of  winds  and  waves  Harold  has 
fallen  into  his  power.  He  must  tread  carefully  now 
and  use  his  best  cleverness  of  strategy  and  treacher- 
ous artifice.  How  the  b}'standers  must  have  watched 
his  face,  and  listened  with  eager  expectation  for  his 
answ^er.  The  messenger  pleads  Harold's  grievous 
condition  ;  hints  of  famine,  torture,  and  death  itself 


262  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

have  been  known  to  escape  this  brutal  Count  of  Pon- 
thieu  who  keeps  the  great  Enghshman  in  his  dun- 
geon as  if  he  were  a  robber.  Perhaps  lie  only  wishes 
to.  gain  a  greater  ransom,  perhaps  he  acts  in  traitor- 
ous defiance  of  his  Lord  of  Normandy's  known  friend- 
ship for  England. 
J  William  replies  at  last  with  stern  courtesy.  He  is 
deeply  grieved,  we  can  hear  him  say,  for  the  earl's 
misfortune,  but  he  can  only  deal  in  the  matter  as 
prince  with  prince.  It  is  true  that  Guy  of  Ponthieu 
is  his  vassal  and  man,  but  Guy  is  governor  of  his 
coast,  and  makes  his  own  laws.  It  will  cost  great 
treasure  to  ransom  this  noble  captive,  but  the  matter 
must  be  carefully  arranged,  for  Guy  is  hot-tempered 
and  might  easily  be  provoked  into  sending  Harold's 
head  to  Rouen  without  his  body.  Yet  half  the 
Norman  duchy  shall  be  spent  if  need  be  for  such 
a  cause  as  the  English  earl's  release. 

Fitz-Osbern,  the  duke's  seneschal  and  Malet  de 
Graville,  and  the  noble  attendants  of  the  palace  mur- 
mur a  pleased  assent  as  the  half-satisfied  messenger 
is  kindly  dismissed.  They  detect  an  intrigue  worthy 
of  the  best  Norman  ability,  and  know  by  William's 
face  that  he  has  unexpectedly  gained  a  welcome 
control  over  events. 

The  liberation  of  Harold  was  effected  after  much 
manoeuvring,  necessary  or  feigned,  and  when  he  ap- 
peared before  William  it  was  as  a  grateful  man  who 
was  in  debt  not  only  for  his  release  from  danger  and 
discomfort,  but  for  a  great  sum  of  money  and  a  tract 
of  valuable  landed  property. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  suspect  that  Guy  of  Pon- 


264  THE    STORY   OF    THE   NORMANS. 

thieu  and  William  were  in  league  with  each  other, 
and  when  the  ransom  was  paid,  the  wrecker-count 
became  very  amiable,  and  even  insisted  upon  riding 
with  a  gay  company  of  knights  to  the  place  where 
the  Norman  duke  came  with  a  splendid  retinue  to 
meet  his  distinguished  guest.  William  laid  aside 
the  cumbrous  forms  of  court  eticjuettc  and  hurried 
to  the  gates  of  the  Chateau  d'Eu  to  help  Harold  to 
dismount,  and  greeted  him  with  cordial  afTection,  as 
friend  with  friend.  Harold  may  well  have  been 
dazzled  by  his  reception  at  the  most  powerful  court 
in  that  part  of  the  world.  To  have  a  welcome  that 
befitted  a  king  may  well  have  pleased  him  into  at 
least  a  temporary  acknowledgment  of  his  entertain- 
er's majestic  power  and  rights.  No  doubt,  during 
that  unlucky  visit  it  seemed  dignity  enough  to  be 
paraded  everywhere  as  the  great  duke's  chosen 
companion  and  honored  friend  and  guest.  At  any 
rate,  Harold's  visit  seems  to  have  given  occupation 
to  the  court,  and  we  catch  many  interesting  glimpses 
of  the  stately  Norman  life,  as  well  as  the  humble, 
almost  brutal,  condition  of  the  lower  classes,  awed  in- 
to quietness  and  acquiescence  by  the  sternness  and 
exactness  of  William's  rule.  It  must  be  acknowledged 
that  if  the  laws  were  severe  they  prevented  much  dis- 
order that  had  smouldered  in  other  times  in  the  lower 
strata  of  society  ;  men  had  less  power  and  oppor- 
tunity to  harm  each  other  or  to  enfeeble  the  state. 

No  greater  piece  of  good  luck  could  have  befallen 
the  duke  than  to  win  the  post  of  Harold's  benefac- 
tor, and  he  played  the  part  gallantly.  Not  only  the 
duke  but  the  duchess  treated  their  guest  with  un- 


HAROLD   THE   ENGLISHMAN.  26f 

common  courtesy,  and  he  was  admitted  to  the 
closest  intimacy  with  the  household.  If  Harold  had 
been  wise  he  would  have  gone  back  to  England  as 
fast  as  sails  could  carry  him,  but  instead  of  that  he 
lingered  on,  equally  ready  to  applaud  the  Norman 
exploits  in  camp  and  court,  and  to  show  his  enter- 
tainers what  Enehsh  valor  could  achieve.      He  went 


OLD   HOUSES,  DOL. 

with  the  duke  on  some  petty  expedition  against  the 
rebellious  Britons,  but  it  is  hard  to  make  out  a 
straight  story  of  that  enterprise.  But  there  is  a  char- 
acteristic story  of  Harold's  strength  in  the  form  of  a 
tradition  that  when  the  Norman  army  was  crossing 
the  deep  river  Coesnon,  which  pours  into  the  sea  un- 
der the  wall  of  Mount  St.  Michel,  some  of  the 
troops  were  being  swept  away  by  the  waves,  when 


266  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

Harold  rescued  them,  taking  them  with  great  ease, 
at  arm's  length,  out  of  the  water. 

There  is  a  sober  announcement  in  one  of  the  old 
chronicles,  that  the  lands  of  Brittany  were  included 
in  Charles  the  Simple's  grant  !o  Rolf,  because  Rolf 
had  so  devastated  Normandy  that  there  was  little 
there  to  live  upon.  At  the  time  of  William's  expe- 
dition, Brittany  itself  was  evidently  taking  its  turn 
at  such  vigorous  shearing  and  pruning  of  the  life  of 
its  fertile  hills  and  valleys.  The  Bretons  liked  nothing 
so  well  as  warfare,  and  when  they  did  not  unite 
against  a  foreign  enemy,  they  spent  their  time  in 
plundering  and  slaughtering  one  another.  Count 
Conan,  the  present  aggressor,  was  the  son  of  Alan 
of  Brittany,  William's  guardian.  Some  of  the 
Bretons  were  loyal  to  the  Norman  authority,  and 
D61,  an  ancient  city  renowned  for  its  ill  luck,  and 
Dinan  were  successively  vacated  by  the  rebels. 
Dinan  was  besieged  by  fire,  a  favorite  weapon  in 
the  hands  of  the  Normans ;  but  later  we  find  that 
both  the  cities  remained  Breton,  and  the  Norman 
allies  go  back  to  their  own  country.  There  is  a  hint 
somewhere  of  the  appearance  of  an  army  from 
Anjou,  to  take  the  Bretons'  i)art,  but  the  Norman 
chroniclers  ignore  it  as  far  as  they  can. 

It  is  impossible  to  fix  the  date  of  this  campaign  ; 
indeed  there  may  have  been  more  than  one  expedi- 
tion against  Brittany.  Still  more  difficult  is  it  to 
learn  any  thing  that  is  undisputed  about  the  famous 
oath  that  Harold  gave  to  William,  and  was  after- 
ward so  completely  punished  for  breaking.  V^et, 
while  we  do  not  know  exactly  what  the  oath  was, 


HAROLD  THE  ENGLISHMAN.  267 

Harold's  most  steadfast  upholders  have  never  been 
able  to  deny  that  there  was  an  oath,  and  there  is  no 
contradiction,  on  the  English  side,  of  the  whole 
affair.  His  best  friends  have  been  silent  about  it. 
The  most  familiar  account  is  this,  if  we  listen  to  the 
Norman  stories :  Harold  entered  into  an  engage- 
ment to  marry  one  of  William's  daughters,  who 
must  have  been  very  young  at  the  time  of  the  visit 
or  visits  to  Normandy,  and  some  writers  claim  that 
the  whole  cause  of  the  quarrel  lay  in  his  refusal  to 
keep  his  promise.  There  is  a  list  beside  of  what 
appears  to  us  unlikely  concessions  on  the  part  of  the 
English  earl.  Harold  did  homage  to  the  duke,  and 
formally  became  his  man,  and  even  promised  to  ac- 
knowledge his  claim  to  the  throne  of  England  at  the 
death  of  the  Confessor.  More  than  this,  he  promised 
to  look  after  William's  interest  in  England,  and  to 
put  him  at  once  into  possession  of  the  Castle  of 
Dover,  with  the  right  of  establishing  a  Norman  gar- 
rison there.  William,  in  return,  agreed  to  hold  his 
new  vassal  in  highest  honor,  giving  him  by  and  by 
even  the  half  of  his  prospective  kingdom.  When  this 
surprising  oath  was  taken,  Harold  was  entrapped  in- 
to swearing  upon  the  holiest  relic  of  Norman  saints 
which  had  been  concealed  in  a  chest  for  the  express 
purpose.  With  the  superstitious  awe  that  men  of 
his  time  felt  toward  such  emblems,  this  not  very  re- 
spectable act  on  William's  part  is  made  to  reflect 
darkly  upon  Harold.  Master  Wace  says  that  "  his 
hand  trembled  and  his  flesh  quivered  when  he 
touched  the  chest,  though  he  did  not  know  what  was 
in  it,  and  how  much  more  distressed  he  was  when  he 


268  THE   STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

found  by  what  an  awful  vow  he  had  unwittingly 
bound  his  soul." 

So  Harold  returned  to  England  the  duke's  vassal 
and  future  son-in-law,  according  to  the  chronicles, 
but  who  can  help  being  suspicious,  after  knowing  how 
Harold  was  indebted  to  the  duke  and  bound  with 
cunningly  contrived  chains  until  he  found  himself  a 
prisoner  ?  William  of  Poitiers,  a  chronicler  who 
wrote  in  the  Conqueror's  day,  says  that  Harold  was 
a  man  to  whom  imprisonment  was  more  odious  than 
shipwreck.  It  would  be  no  wonder  if  he  had  made 
use  of  a  piece  of  strategy,  and  was  willing  to  make 
any  sort  of  promise  simply  to  gain  his  liberty. 

The  plot  of  the  relic-business  put  a  different  face 
upon  the  whole  matter,  and  yet,  even  if  Harold  was 
dazzled  for  the  time  being  by  William's  power  and 
splendor,  one  must  doubt  whether  he  would  have 
given  up  all  his  ambition  of  reigning  in  England.  He 
was  already  too  great  a  man  at  home  to  play  the  sub- 
ject and  flatterer  with  much  sincerity,  even  though 
his  master  were  the  high  and  mighty  Duke  of  the 
Normans,  and  he  had  come  from  a  ruder  country  to 
the  fascination  and  elegance  of  the  Norman  court. 
Whatever  the  oath  may  have  been  that  Harold  gave 
at  Bayeux,  it  is  certain  that  he  broke  it  afterward, 
and  that  his  enemies  made  his  failure  not  only  an 
affair  of  state,  but  of  church,  and  waged  a  bitter  war 
that  brought  him  to  his  sad  end. 

Now,  the  Norman  knights  might  well  look  to  it 
that  their  armor  was  strong  and  the  Norman  soldiers 
provide  themselves  with  arrows  and  well-seasoned 
bows.     It  was  likely  that  Harold's  promise  was  no 


HAROLD   THE   ENGLISHMAN.  269 

secret,  and  that  some  echo  of  it  reached  from  one 
end  of  the  dukedom  to  the  other.  There  were  great 
enterprises  on  foot,  and  at  night  in  the  firehght 
there  was  eager  discussion  of  possible  campaigns, 
for  though  the  great  Duke  WilHam,  their  soldier  of 
soldiers,  had  bent  the  strength  of  his  resistless  force 
upon  a  new  kingdom  across  the  Channel  and  had 
won  himself  such  a  valuable  ally,  it  was  not  likely 
that  England  would  be  ready  to  fall  into  his  hand 
like  a  ripe  apple  from  the  bough.  There  was  sure 
to  be  fighting,  but  there  was  something  worth  fight- 
ing for ;  the  petty  sorties  against  the  provincial 
neighbors  of  Normandy  were  hardly  worth  the  no- 
tice of  her  army.  Men  like  the  duke's  soldiers  were 
fit  for  something  better  than  such  police  duty.  Be- 
sides, a  deep  provocation  had  not  been  forgiven  by 
those  gentlemen  who  were  hustled  out  of  England 
by  Godwine  and  his  party,  and  many  an  old  score 
would  now  stand  a  chance  of  repayment. 

Not  many  months  were  passed  before  the  news 
came  from  London  that  the  holy  king  Eadward  was 
soon  to  leave  this  world  for  a  better.  He  was 
already  renowned  as  a  worker  of  miracles  and  a  seer 
of  visions,  and  the  story  was  whispered  reverently 
that  he  had  given  his  ring  to  a  beggar  who  appeared 
before  him  to  ask  alms  in  the  middle  of  a  crowd  as- 
sembled at  the  dedication  of  a  church.     The  be^crar 

00 

disappeared,  but  that  very  night  some  English  pil- 
grims on  their  way  to  Jerusalem  are  shelterless  and 
in  danger  near  the  holy  city.  Suddenly  a  company 
of  shining  acolytes  approach  through  the  wilderness, 
carrying  two  tapers  before  an  old  man,  as  if  he  were 


270  THE    STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

out  on  some  errand  of  the  church.  He  stops  to 
ask  the  wondering  pilgrims  whence  they  come  and 
whither  they  are  going,  and  guides  them  to  a  city 
and  a  comfortable  lodging,  and  next  morning  tells 
them  that  he  is  Saint  John  the  Evangelist.  More 
than  this,  he  gives  them  the  Confessor's  ring,  with  a 
message  to  carry  back  to  England.  Within  six 
months  Eadward  will  be  admitted  to  paradise  as  a 
reward  for  his  pure  and  pious  life.  The  message  is 
carried  to  the  king  by  miraculous  agency  that  same 
night,  and  ever  since  he  prays  and  fasts  more  than 
ever,  and  is  hurrying  the  builders  of  his  great  West- 
minster, so  that  he  may  see  that  holy  monument  of 
his  piety  dedicated  to  the  service  of  God  before  he 
dies. 

The  Norman  lords  and  gentlemen  who  listened  to 
this  tale  must  have  crossed  themselves,  one  fancies, 
and  craved  a  blessing  on  the  saintly  king,  but  the 
next  minute  we  fancy  also  that  they  gave  one  an- 
other a  glance  that  betokened  a  lively  expectation  of 
what  might  follow  the  news  of  Eadward's  translation. 

Twice  in  the  year,  at  Easter  and  Christmas,  the 
English  king  wore  his  crown  in  the  great  Witanage- 
mot  and  held  court  among  his  noblemen.  In  this 
year  the  midwinter  Gemot  was  held  at  the  king's  court 
at  Westminster,  instead  of  at  Gloucester,  to  hallow 
the  Church  of  St.  Peter,  the  new  shrine  to  which  so 
much  more  of  the  Confessor's  thought  had  gone  than 
to  the  ruling  of  his  kingdom. 

But  in  the  triumphant  da\'s  to  which  he  had  long 
looked  forward,  his  strength  failed  faster  and  faster, 
and  his  queen,  Edith,  the  daughter  of  Godwine,  had 


HAROLD   THE  ENGLISHMAN.  2/1 

to  take  his  place  at  the  ceremonies.  The  histories  of 
that  day  are  filled  with  accounts  of  the  grand  build- 
ing that  Eadward's  piety  had  reared.  He  had  given  a 
tenth  part  of  all  his  income  to  it  for  many  years,  and 
with  a  proud  remembrance  of  the  Norman  churches 
with  which  he  was  familiar  in  his  early  days,  had 
made  Westminster  a  noble  rival  of  them  and  the 
finest  church  in  England.  The  new  year  was  hardly 
begun,  the  Witan  had  not  scattered  to  their  homes, 
before  Eadward  the  Confessor  was  carried  to  his 
tomb — the  last  of  the  sons  of  Woden.  He  had 
reigned  for  three  and  twenty  years,  and  was  al- 
ready a  worn  old  man. 

"  Now,  in  the  falling  autumn,  while  the  winds 
Of  winter  blew  across  his  scanty  days 
He  gathered  up  life's  embers " 

But  as  he  lay  dying  in  the  royal  palace  at  Westmin- 
ster everybody  was  less  anxious  about  the  king,  than 
about  the  countrj^'s  uncertain  future.  Harold  had 
been  a  sort  of  under-king  for  several  years,  and  had 
taken  upon  himself  many  of  the  practical  duties  of 
government.  He  had  done  great  deeds  against  the 
Welsh,  and  was  a  better  general  and  war-man  than 
Eadward  had  ever  been.  Nobody  had  any  hope  of 
the  Confessor's  recovery,  and  any  hour  might  find  the 
nation  kingless.  The  Atheling's  young  son  was  a 
feeble,  incompetent  person,  and  wholly  a  foreigner  ; 
only  the  most  romantic  and  senseless  citizen  could 
dream  of  making  him  Lord  of  England  in  such  a 
time  as  that.  There  were  a  thousand  rumors  afloat ; 
every  man  had  his  theory  and  his  prejudice,  and  at 
last  there  must  have  been  a  general  feeling  of  relief 


272  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

when  the  news  was  told  that  the  saint-king  was  dead 
in  hispahice  and  had  named  Harold  as  his  successor. 
The  people  clung  eagerly  to  such  a  nomination  ;  now 
that  Eadward  was  dead  he  was  saint  indeed,  and 
there  was  a  funeral  and  a  coronation  that  same  day 
in  the  minster  on  the  Isle  of  Thorney ;  his  last  word 
to  the  people  was  made  law. 

No  more  whispering  that  Harold  was  the  Duke  of 
the  Normans'  man,  and  might  betray  England  again 
into  the  hands  of  those  greedy  favorites  whom  the 
holy  king  had  cherished  in  his  bosom  like  serpents. 
No  more  fears  of  Harold's  jealous  enemies  among 
the  earls  ;  there  was  a  short-sighted  joy  that  the 
great  step  of  the  succession  had  been  made  and 
settled  fast  in  the  consent  of  the  Witan,  who  still 
lingered  ;  to  be  dispersed,  when  these  famous  days 
were  at  an  end,  by  another  king  of  England  than  he 
who  had  called  them  together. 

The  king  had  prophesied  in  his  last  hours  ;  he  had 
seen  visions  and  dreamed  dreams  ;  he  had  said  that 
great  sorrows  were  to  fall  upon  England  for  her  sins, 
and  that  her  earls  and  bishops  and  abbots  were  but 
ministers  of  the  fiend  in  the  eye  of  God  ;  that  within 
a  year  and  a  day  the  whole  land  would  be  harried 
from  one  end  to  another  with  fire  and  slaughter. 
Yet,  almost  with  the  same  breath,  he  recommends 
his  Norman  friends,  "  those  whom  in  his  simplicity 
he  spoke  of  as  men  who  had  left  their  native  land 
for  love  of  him,"  to  Harold's  care,  and  does  not  seem 
to  suspect  their  remotest  agency  in  the  future  harry- 
ing. True  enough  some  of  the  Norman  ofificers  were 
loyal  to  him  and  to  England.     This  death-bed  scene 


HAROLD   THE  ENGLISHMAN. 


VI 


is   sad    and    solemn.        Norman    Robert  the  Staller 
was    there,    and    Stigand,    the    illegal    archbishop  ; 


Harold,   the   hope   of   England,   and   his   sister,   the 
queen,  who  mourns  now  and  is  very  tender  to  her 


274 


THE   STOKV  OF  THE  NORMANS. 


royal  husband,  who  has  given  her  a  sorry  lot  with  his 
cold-heartcdness  toward  her  and  the  dismal  exile 
and  estrangement  he  has  made  her  suffer.  He  loves 
her  and  trusts  her  now  in  this  last  day  of  life,  and  her 
woman's  heart  forgets  the  days  that  were  dark  be- 
tween them.  He  even  commends  her  to  Harold's 
care,  and  directs  that  she  must  not  lose  the  honors 
which  have  been  hers  as  queen. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  when  Eadward  lay  dying 
he  said  that  he  was  passing  from  the  land  of  the 
dead  to  the  land  of  the  living,  and  the  chronicle 
adds:  ''Saint  Peter,  his  friend,  opened  to  him  the 
gates  of  Paradise,  and  Saint  John,  his  own  dear  one, 
led  him  before  the  Divine  Majesty."  The  walls  that 
Eadward  built  are  replaced  by  others  ;  there  is  not 
much  of  his  abbey  left  now  but  some  of  the  founda- 
tion and  an  archway  or  two.  But  his  tomb  stands 
in  a  sacred  spot,  and  the  pra)'ers  and  hymns  he 
loved  so  devoutly  are  said  and  sung  yet  in  his  own 
Westminster,  the  burying-place  of  many  another 
kine  since  the  Confessor's  time. 


XIV. 

NEWS    FROM    ENGLAND. 

"  Great  men  have  reaching  hands." 

— Shakespeare. 


So  Harold  was  crowned  king  of  England.  Our 
business  is  chiefly  with  what  the  Normans  thought 
about  that  event,  and  while  London  is  divided  be- 
tween praises  of  the  old  king  and  hopes  of  the  new 
one,  and  there  are  fears  of  what  may  follow  from 
Earl  Tostig's  enmity  ;  while  the  Witan  are  dis- 
persing to  their  homes,  and  the  exciting  news  travels 
faster  than  they  do  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
country,  we  must  leave  it  all  and  imagine  ourselves 
in  Normandy. 

Duke  William  was  at  his  park  of  Quevilly,  near 
Rouem,  and  was  on  his  way  to  the  chase.  He  had 
been  bending  his  bow — the  famous  bow  that  was 
too  strong  for  other  men's  hands — and  just  as  he 
gave  it  to  the  page  who  waited  to  carry  it  after  him, 
a  man-at-arms  came  straight  to  his  side  ;  they  went 
apart  together  to  speak  secretly,  while  the  by- 
standers watched  them  curiously  and  whispered  that 
the  eager  messenger  was  an  Englishman. 

"  Eadward  the  king  is  dead,"  the  duke  was  told, 
275 


2/6  THE   STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

but  that  not  unexpected  news  was  only  half  the 
message.     "  Earl  Harold  is  raised  to  the  kingdom." 

There  came  an  angry  look  into  the  duke's  eyes, 
and  the  herald  left  him.  William  forgot  his  plans 
for  the  hunt ;  he  strode  by  his  retainers ;  he  tied  and 
untied  his  mantle  absent-mindedly,  and  presently 
went  down  to  the  bank  of  the  Seine  again  and 
crossed  over  in  a  boat  to  his  castle  hall.  He  entered 
silently,  and  nobody  dared  ask  what  misfortune  had 
befallen  him.  His  companions  followed  him  and 
found  him  sitting  on  a  bench,  moving  restlessly  to 
and  fro.  Then  he  became  quieter;  he  leaned  his 
head  against  the  great  stone  pillar  and  covered  his 
face  with  his  mantle.  Long  before,  in  the  old  Norse 
halls,  where  all  the  vikings  lived  together,  if  a  man 
were  sick  or  sorry  or  wished  for  any  reason  to  be  un- 
disturbed, he  sat  on  his  own  bench  and  covered  his 
head  with  his  cloak;  there  was  no  room  where  he 
could  be  alone ;  and  after  the  old  custom,  in  these 
later  days,  the  knights  of  William's  court  left  him 
to  his  thoughts.  Then  William  Fitz-Osbern,  the 
"bold-hearted,"  came  into  the  quiet  hall  humming  a 
tune.  The  awe-struck  people  who  were  clustered 
there  asked  him  what  was  the  matter ;  then  the 
duke  looked  up. 

"  It  is  in  vain  for  you  to  try  to  hide  the  news,"  said 
the  Seneschal.  "  It  is  blazing  through  the  streets 
of  Rouen.  The  Confessor  is  dead,  and  Harold  holds 
the  English  kingdom." 

The  duke  answered  gravely  tiiat  he  sorrowed  both 
for  the  death  of  Eadward  and  for  the  faithlessness  of 
Harold. 


NEWS  FROM  ENGLAND. 


277 


■'  Arise  and  be  doing,"  urges  Fitz-Osbern.  "  There 
is  no  need  for  mourning.  Cross  the  sea  and  snatch 
the  kingdom  out  of  the  usurper's  hand,"  and  in  this 


STIGAND,  ARCHBISHOP   OF   CANTERBURY. 

way  stern  thought  and  dire  purpose  were  thrown 
into  the  duke's  hoHday.  The  messenger  had  brought 
a  Hghted  torch  in  his  hand  that  was  equal  to  kindling 
great  plans  that  winter  day  in  Normandy. 


2y^  THE   STORY  OF  THE    NORMANS. 

William  and  all  his  men,  from  the  least  soldier  to 
the  greatest,  knew  that  if  they  wished  for  England 
the  only  way  to  get  it  was  to  fight  for  it.  There  had 
never  been  such  a  proof  of  their  mettle  as  this 
would  be.  The  Normans  who  went  to  Italy  had 
no  such  opponents  as  Harold  and  the  rest  of  the 
Englishmen  fighting  on  their  own  ground  for  their 
homes  and  their  honor;  but  Norman  courage  shone 
brightest  in  these  days.  This  is  one  of  the  places 
where  we  must  least  of  all  follow  the  duke's  personal 
fortunes  too  closely,  or  forget  that  the  best  of  the 
Normans  were  looking  eagerly  forward  to  the  pos- 
session of  new  territory.  Many  of  their  cleverest 
men,  too,  were  more  than  ready  to  punish  the 
English  for  ejecting  them  from  comfortable  positions 
under  Godwine's  rule,  and  were  anxious  to  reinstate 
themselves  securely.  There  was  no  such  perilous 
journey  before  the  army  as  the  followers  of  the 
Hautevilles  had  known,  while  their  amazing  stories 
of  gain  and  glory  incited  the  Normans  at  home  to  win 
themselves  new  fortunes.  It  is  a  proof  that  civiliza- 
tion and  the  arts  of  diplomacy  were  advancing,  when 
we  listen  (and  the  adventurers  listened  too)  while 
excuse  after  excuse  was  tendered  for  the  great 
expedition.  The  news  of  Harold's  accession  was 
simply  a  welcome  signal  for  action,  but  the  heir  of 
Rolf  the  Ganger  was  a  politician,  an  astute  wielder  of 
public  opinion,  and  his  state-craft  was  now  directed 
toward  giving  his  desire  to  conquer  England  and 
reign  over  it  a  proper  aspect  in  the  eyes  of  other 
nations. 

The   right  of  heritage  was   fast   displacing  every- 


NEWS  FROM  ENGLAND.  2/9 

where  the  people's  right  to  choose  their  kings.  The 
feudal  system  was  close  and  strong  in  its  links,  but 
while  Harold  had  broken  his  oath  of  homage  to 
William,  that  alone  was  not  sufificient  crime.  Such 
obligations  were  not  always  unbreakable,  and  were 
too  much  a  matter  of  formality  and  temporary  ex- 
pediency to  warrant  such  an  appeal  to  the  common 
law  of  nations  as  William  meant  to  make.  As  nearly 
as  we  can  get  at  the  truth  of  the  matter,  the  chief 
argument  against  Harold  the  Usurper  was  on  reli- 
gious grounds — on  William's  real  or  assumed  promise 
of  the  succession  from  Eadward,  and  Harold's  vow 
upon  the  holy  relics  of  the  saints  at  Rouen.  This  at 
least  was  most  criminal  blasphemy.  The  Normans 
gloried  in  their  own  allegiance  to  the  church.  Their 
duke  was  blameless  in  private  life  and  a  sworn  de- 
fender and  upholder  of  the  faith,  and  by  this  means 
a  most  formidable  ally  was  easily  won,  in  the  charac- 
ter of  Lanfranc  the  great  archbishop. 

Lanfranc  and  William  governed  Normandy  hand 
in  hand.  In  tracing  the  history  of  this  time  the 
priest  seems  as  familiar  with  secular  affairs,  with  the 
course  of  the  state  and  the  army  and  foreign  rela- 
tions, as  the  duke  was  diligent  in  attending  ecclesi- 
astical synods  and  church  services.  It  was  a  time  of 
great  rivalry  and  uncertainty  for  the  papal  crown  ; 
there  was  a  pope  and  an  anti-pope  just  then  who 
were  violent  antagonists,  but  Archdeacon  Hilde- 
brand  was  already  the  guide  and  authority  of  the 
Holy  See.  Later  he  became  the  Pope  famous  in 
history  as  Gregory  VII.  We  are  startled  to  find 
that  the  expedition  against   England  was  made  to 


280  THE    STORY   OF  THE  NORMANS. 

take  the  shape  of  a  crusade,  even  though  England 
was  building  her  own  churches,  and  sending  pilgrims 
to  the  Holy  Land,  and  pouring  wealth  most  gener- 
ously into  the  church's  coffers.  "  Priests  and  prel- 
ates were  subject  to  the  law  Hke  other  men,"  that 
was  the  trouble  ;  and  "  a  land  where  the  king  and 
his  Witan  gave  and  took  away  the  staff  of  the  bishop 
was  a  land  which,  in  the  eyes  of  Rome,  was  more 
dangerous  than  a  land  of  Jews  or  Saracens."  "  It 
was  a  policy  worthy  of  William  to  send  to  the  thresh- 
old of  the  apostles  to  crave  their  blessing  on  his  in- 
tended work  of  reducing  the  rebellious  land,  and  it 
was  a  policy  worthy  of  one  greater  than  William 
himself,  to  make  even  William,  for  once  in  his  life, 
the  instrument  of  purposes  yet  more  daring,  yet 
more  far-sighted,  than  his  own.  On  the  steps  of  the 
papal  chair,  and  there  alone,  had  William  and  Lan- 
franc  to  cope  with  an  intellect  loftier  and  more 
subtle  than  even  theirs."  * 

William  sent  an  embassy  to  Harold  probably  very 
soon  after  the  receipt  of  the  news  of  his  coronation. 
The  full  account  of  both  the  demand  and  its  re- 
ply have  been  forgotten,  but  it  is  certain  that  what- 
ever the  duke's  commands  were  they  were  promptly 
disobeyed,  and  certain  too  that  this  was  the  result 
that  William  expected  and  even  desired.  He  could 
add  another  grievance  to  his  list  of  Harold's  wrong- 
doings, and  now,  beside  the  original  disloyalty,  W^il- 
liam  could  complain  that  his  vassal  had  formally  re- 
fused to  keep  his  formal  promise  and  obligation. 
Then  he  called  a  council  of  Norman  nobles  at  Lille- 
bonne  and  laid  his  plans  before  them. 

*  Freeman  :   "  The  Norman  Conquest." 


NORMANDY   (iN    I066). 


282  THE    STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

It  was  a  famous  company  of  counsellors  and  made 
up  of  the  duke's  oldest  friends.  There  were  William 
Fitz-Osbern,  and  the  duke's  brother  Odo  of  Bayeux, 
whose  priesthood  was  no  hindrance  to  his  good 
soldiery  ;  Richard  of  Evreux,  the  grandson  of  Rich- 
ard the  Fearless  ;  Roger  of  Beaumont  and  the  three 
heroes  of  Mortemer  ;  Walter  GifTard  ;  Hugh  de 
Montfort  and  William  of  Warren  ;  the  Count  of 
Mortain  and  Roger  Montgomery  and  Count  Robert 
of  Eu.  All  these  names  we  know,  and  familiar  as 
they  were  in  Normandy,  they  were,  most  of  them,  to 
strike  deeper  root  in  their  new  domain  of  England. 
We  do  not  find  that  they  objected  now  to  William's 
plans,  but  urged  only  that  they  had  no  right  to 
speak  for  the  whole  countr\',  and  that  all  the  Nor- 
man barons  ought  to  be  called  together  to  speak  for 
themselves. 

This  was  a  return  to  the  fashions  of  Rolf's  day, 
when  the  adventurers  boasted  on  the  banks  of  the 
Seine  that  they  had  no  king  to  rule  over  them,  and 
were  all  equal ;  that  they  only  asked  for  what  they 
could  win  with  their  swords.  We  do  not  find  any 
other  record  of  a  parliament  in  Normandy  ;  perhaps 
nothing  had  ever  happened  of  late  which  so  closely 
concerned  every  armed  man  within  the  Norman  bor- 
ders. The  feudal  barons  had  a  right  to  speak  now 
for  themselves  and  their  dependants,  and  in  the 
great  ducal  hall  of  the  castle  at  Lillebonne  William 
duke  told  them  his  story  and  called  upon  them 
for  help.  He  had  a  great  wish  to  revenge  Harold's 
treatment  of  him  by  force  of  arms,  and  asked  the 
noble  company  of  barons  what  aid  they  would  rcn- 


NEWS  FROM  ENGLAND.  283 

der  ;  with  how  many  men  and  how  many  ships  and 
with  what  a  sum  of  money  they  would  follow  him 
and  uphold  the  weighty  and  difificult  enterprise. 

Now  we  find  many  of  the  barons  almost  unwilling ; 
even  doubtful  of  the  possibility  of  conquering  such 
a  kingdom  as  England.  After  insisting  that  they 
had  longed  to  go  plundering  across  the  Channel,  and 
that  the  old  love  for  fighting  burned  with  as  hot  a 
fire  as  ever  within  their  breasts,  the  chronicles  say 
that  this  Norman  parliament  asked  for  time  to  talk 
things  over  in  secret  before  the  duke  should  have  any 
answer.  We  are  given  a  picture  of  them  grouped 
around  this  and  that  pleader  for  or  against  the  duke, 
and  are  told  that  they  demurred,  that  they  objected 
to  crossing  the  sea  to  wage  war,  and  that  they  feared 
the  English.  For  a  moment  it  appears  as  if  the 
whole  mind  of  the  assembly  were  opposed  to  the 
undertaking.  They  even  feared  if  they  promised 
unusual  supplies  of  men  and  treasure  that  William 
would  forever  keep  them  up  to  such  a  difificult  stand- 
ard of  generosity.  I  must  say  that  all  this  does  not 
ring  true  or  match  at  all  with  the  Norman  character 
of  that  time.  It  wo-uld  not  be  strange  if  there  were 
objectors  among  them,  but  it  does  not  seem  possible 
v/hen  they  were  so  ready  to  go  adventuring  before 
and  after  this  time ;  when  they  were  after  all  sepa- 
rated by  so  short  a  time  from  Rolf  the  Ganger's 
piracies,  that  many  could  have  been  so  seriously 
daunted  by  the  prospect  of  such  limited  seafaring 
as  crossing  the  Channel.  It  appears  like  an  ingenious 
method  of  magnifying  the  greatness  and  splendor 
of  the  Norman  victory,  and  the  valiant  leadership  of 
the  duke  and  his  most  trusted  aids. 


284  THE    STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

William  Fitz-Osbern  was  chosen  to  plead  with 
the  barons,  and  persuade  them  to  follow  the  duke's 
banner.  He  reminded  them  that  they  were  Wil- 
liam's vassals,  and  that  it  would  be  unwise  to  disap- 
point him.  William  was  a  stern  man  and  fearful  as 
an  enemy.  If  any  among  them  loved  their  ease,  and 
wished  to  avoid  their  lawful  tribute  of  service,  let 
them  reflect  that  they  were  in  the  power  of  such  a 
mighty  lord  and  master.  What  was  their  money 
worth  to  them  if  the  duke  branded  them  as  faithless 
cowards,  and  why  did  they  wish  to  disgrace  their 
names  and  take  no  part  in  this  just  and  holy  war 
against  the  usurper? 

These  were  the  arguments  we  can  fancy  brave 
Fitz-Osbern  giving  them  one  by  one  if  indeed  the}- 
hung  back  and  were  close-fisted  or  afraid.  They 
commissioned  him  at  last  to  speak  for  them  at  the 
next  hearing,  and  when  he  boldly  promised  for  each 
man  double  his  regular  fee  and  allotment — for  the  lord 
of  twenty  knights  forty  knights,  and  "  for  himself,  of 
his  love  and  zeal,  sixty  ships  armed  and  equipped 
and  filled  with  fighting  men,"  the  barons  shouted 
at  first  "  No,  no  !  "  and  the  hall  at  Lillebonne  echoed 
with  the  noise. 

But  it  was  all  settled  finally,  and  we  are  told  that 
the  duke  himself  talked  with  his  barons  one  by  one, 
and  that  at  last  they  were  as  eager  as  he.  The  whole 
objection  seems  to  have  been  made  for  fear  that 
their  doubled  and  extraordinary  tribute  should  be 
made  a  precedent,  but  the  duke  promptly  gave  his 
word  of  honor  that  it  should  not  be  so,  and  their 
estates  should  not  be  permanently  weighted  beyond 


NEWS  FROM  ENGLAND.  285 

their  ability.  The  scribes  took  down  the  record  of 
the  knights  and  soldiers  that  each  baron  had  prom- 
ised, and  from  this  time  there  was  a  hum  and  stir  of 
war-making  in  Normandy,  and  that  spring  there  were 
more  women  than  men  in  the  fields  tending  the 
growing  crops. 

The  duke  set  himself  seriously  to  work.  All  the 
barons  of  his  duchy  and  all  their  men  were  not 
enough  to  depend  upon  for  the  overthrowing  of 
England.  William  must  appeal  to  his  neighbors  for 
help,  and  in  this  he  was  aided  by  the  Pope's  approval, 
and  the  blessing  that  was  promised  to  those  who 
would  punish  Harold  and  his  countrymen,  traitors 
to  the  Holy  Church.  The  spoils  of  England  were 
promised  to  all  who  would  win  a  share  in  them,  and 
adventurers  flocked  from  east,  north,  and  south  to 
enroll  themselves  in  the  Norman  ranks.  Alan  of 
Brittany  was  ready  to  command  his  forces  in  person 
aud  to  come  to  William's  assistance,  and  so  was 
Eustace  of  Boulogne,  but  the  French  nobles  who 
gathered  about  their  young  King  Philip,  still  under 
Baldwin  of  Flanders's  guardianship,  were  by  no  means 
willing  to  help  forward  any  thing  that  would  make 
their  Norman  rivals  any  more  powerful  than  they 
were  already.  From  Flanders  there  were  plenty  of 
adventurers,  and  some  high  noblemen  who  needed 
little  urging  to  join  their  fortunes  to  such  an  expedi- 
tion, and  William  sent  embassies  to  more  distant 
countries  still,  with  better  or  worse  results.  There 
is  a  tradition  that  even  the  Normans  of  Sicily  came 
northward  in  great  numbers. 

The  most  important  thing,  next  to  carrying  a  suf- 


286  THE   SrORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

ficicnt  force  into  England,  was  to  leave  the  Norman 
borders  secure  from  invasion.  If  they  were  repidscd 
in  England  and  returned  to  find  they  had  lost  part  of 
Normandy,  that  would  be  a  sorry  fate  indeed,  and 
the  duke  exerted  himself  in  every  way  to  leave  his 
territory  secure. 

The  most  powerful  alliance  was  that  with  the 
papal  court  at  Rome.  Here  Lan franc  could  serve 
his  adopted  country  to  good  effect.  Hildebrand's 
power  was  making  itself  felt  more  and  more,  and  it 
was  he  who  most  ardently  desired  and  fostered  the 
claim  of  the  Church  to  a  mastery  of  all  the  crowns 
lof  Christendom.  ''The  decree  went  forth,  which 
declared  Harold  to  be  a  usurper  and  William  to  be 
the  lawful  claimant  of  the  English  crown.  It  would 
even  seem  that  it  declared  the  English  king  and  all 
his  followers  to  be  cut  off  from  the  communion  of 
the  faithful.  William  was  sent  forth  as  an  avenger 
to  chastise  the  wrong  and  perjury  of  his  faithless 
vassal.  But  he  was  also  sent  forth  as  a  missionary, 
to  guide  the  erring  English  into  the  true  path,  to 
teach  them  due  obedience  to  Christ's  vicar,  and  to 
secure  a  more  punctual  payment  of  the  temporal 
dues  of  his  apostle.  The  cause  of  the  invasion  was 
blessed,  and  precious  gifts  were  sent  as  the  visible 
exponents  of  the  blessing.  A  costly  ring  was  sent, 
containing  a  relic,  holier,  it  may  be,  than  any  on 
which  Harold  had  sworn — a  hair  of  the  prince  of  the 
apostles.  And  with  the  ring  came  a  consecrated 
banner."*  These  were,  after  all,  more  formidable 
weapons  than  the  Norman  arrows.  They  inspired 
*  Freeman,  "  The  Norman  Conquest." 


NEWS  FROM  ENGLAND.  '2%'J 

not  only  courage,  but  a  sense  of  duty  and  of  right- 
eous service  of  God.  Alas  for  poor  humanity  that 
lends  itself  so  readih'  to  wrongdoing,  and  even  hopes 
to  win  heaven  by  making  this  earth  a  place  of  blood- 
shed and  treachery.  Now,  William  had  something 
besides  English  lands  and  high  places  for  knight  and 
priest  alike  on  conquered  soil — he  could  give  security 
and  eminence  in  the  world  to  come.  Heaven  itself 
had  been  pr'^mised  by  its  chief  representative  on 
earth  to  those  who  would  fight  for  the  Duke  of  Nor- 
mandy against  England.  Hildebrand  had  made  a 
last  appeal  to  the  holy  assembly  of  cardinals  when  he 
told  the  story  of  the  profaned  relics  and  Harold's 
broken  oath,  and  had  urged  the  willing  fathers  of 
the  church  to  consider  how  pious  and  benevolent  it 
would  be  to  Christianize  the  barbarous  and  heathen 
Saxons.  Nobody  took  pains  to  remember  that  the 
priesthood  of  England  owned  a  third  of  the  English 
lands,  and  ruled  them  with  a  rod  of  iron.  So  long  as 
England  would  not  bend  the  knee  to  Rome,  what 
did  all  that  matter  ? 

One  significant  thing  happened  at  this  time.  Who 
should  make  his  appearance  at  the  duke's  court  but 
Tostig,  the  son  of  Godwine,  eager,  no  doubt,  to  plot 
against  Harold,  and  to  take  a  sufificient  revenge  for  the 
banishment  and  defeat  by  means  of  which  he  was 
then  an  outcast.  He  did  not  linger  long,  for  the 
busy  duke  sent  him  quickly  away,  not  uncommis- 
sioned for  the  war  that  was  almost  ready  to  begin. 

Harold  also  had  set  himself  at  work  to  gather  his 
forces  and  to  be  in  readiness  for  an  attack  which  was 
sure  to  come.    Another  enemy  was  first  in  the  field, 


288  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

for  in  the  spring  Tostig  appeared  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  the  captain  of  a  fleet  of  ships  that  were 
manned  by  Flemish  and  Norman  men.  He  had  re- 
ceived aid  from  William,  and  proceeded  to  wreak 
his  vengeance  upon  the  Kent  and  Sussex  villages 
over  which  his  father  had  once  ruled.  He  does  not 
appear  to  have  gained  any  English  allies,  except  at 
the  seaport  of  Sandwich,  where  he  probably  hired 
some  sailors ;  then  he  went  northward  from  there 
with  sixty  ships  and  attacked  the  coast  of  Godwine's 
earldom.  He  made  great  havoc  in  the  shore  towns, 
but  Eadwine  and  Morkere  of  Northumberland  hurried 
to  meet  him  with  their  troops  and  drove  him  away, 
so  that  with  only  twelve  ships  left  he  went  to  Scot- 
land, where  Malcolm,  the  Scottish  king  received  him 
with  a  hearty  welcome,  and  entertained  him  politely 
the  rest  of  the  summer.  They  had  lately  been  sworn 
enemies,  but  now  that  Tostig  was  fighting  against 
England,  Malcolm  put  aside  all  bygone  prejudice. 
In  the  summer  of  that  eventful  year,  Tostig  first 
proposed  to  the  king  of  Denmark  that  he  should 
come  to  England  and  help  him  to  recover  his  earldom. 
Swegen  had  the  good  sense  to  refuse,  and  then  the 
outlaw  went  on  to  Norway  to  make  further  proposals 
to  Harold  Hardrada,  who  also  listened  incredulously, 
but  when  Tostig  suggested  that  Harold  should  be 
king  of  England,  and  that  he  would  04ily  ask  to  be 
under-king-of  the  northern  territory,  that  he  would 
do  homage  to  Harold  and  serve  him  loyally,  the  great 
Norwegian  chieftain  consented  to  make  ready  for 
an  expedition.  He  seems  to  have  been  much  like 
Rolf  the  Ganger,  and  a  true,  valiant  viking  at  heart. 


ENGLAND. 


2gO  THE    STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

The  old  saga  whence  the  story  comes  makes  us  for- 
get the  plottings  and  claims  of  Rome  and  the  glories 
of  Norman  court  life  ;  the  accounts  of  Harold  Har- 
drada's  expedition  are  like  a  breath  of  cold  wind 
from  the  Northern  shores,  and  the  sight  of  a  shining 
dragon-ship  stealing  away  between  the  high  shores 
of  a  fiord,  outward-bound  for  a  bout  of  plundering. 
But  the  saga  records  also  the  fame  and  prowess  of 
that  other  Harold,  the  son  of  Godwine,  and  magnifies 
the  power  of  such  an  enemy. 

Perhaps  the  English  king  trusted  at  first  in  the 
ability  of  the  northern  earls  to  take  care  of  their 
own  territory,  and  only  tried  to  stand  guard  over  the 
southern  coast. 

He  gathered  an  army  and  kept  it  together  all  the 
latter  part  of  the  summer,  a  most  unprecedented  and 
difficult  thing  in  those  days  ;  and  with  help  from  the 
local  forces,  or  what  we  should  call  the  militia,  his 
soldiers  kept  guard  along  the  shores  of  Sussex  and 
Kent.  We  cannot  estimate  what  a  troublesome  step 
forward  in  the  art  of  warfare  this  was  for  English- 
men, who  were  used  to  quick  forced  marches  and  de- 
cisive battles,  and  a  welcome  dispersion  after  the 
cessation  of  whatever  exciting  cause  or  sudden  sum- 
mons had  gathered  them. 

Harold's  ships  patrolled  the  Channel  and  the  foot- 
soldiers  paced  the  downs,  but  food,  always  hard  to  ob- 
tain, became  at  last  impossible,  and  in  September  the 
army  broke  ranks.  Harold  himself  went  back  to  Lon- 
don, whither  the  fleet  was  also  sent,  but  on  the  way 
it  met  with  disaster,  and  many  of  the  ships  were  lost 
and  man}'  more  began  to  leak  and  were  reluctantly 


NEWS  FROM  ENGLAND.  29 1 

judged  unseaworthy.  The  whole  southern  coast  was 
left  undefended  ;  it  was  neither  the  king's  fault  nor 
the  subjects'  fault.  Both  had  done  their  best, — but 
the  crops  must  be  gathered  then  or  not  at  all,  and  at 
any  rate,  the  army  was  weakened  by  famine  and  a 
growing  belief  in  the  uncertainty  of  attack. 

Alas  for  Harold's  peace  of  mind  !  In  those  very 
days  William  the  Norman's  host  was  clustering  and 
gathering  like  bees  just  ready  to  swarm,  on  the  coast 
of  Normandy,  and  from  the  mouth  of  the  Bergen 
fiord  came  Harold  Hardrada  with  a  great  company, 
with  a  huge  mass  of  treasure,  such  as  had  not  for 
years  and  years  floated  away  from  a  Northern  haven. 
It  seems  as  if  he  had  determined  to  migrate,  to  crush 
the  English  usurper,  and  then  to  establish  himself  as 
Cnut  had  done  in  the  richer  southern  kingdom. 
There  must  have  been  some  knowledge  in  Norway  of 
the  state  of  things  in  England  and  Normandy,  but 
this  famous  old  adventurer  was  ready  to  fight  who- 
ever he  met,  and  the  Black  Raven  was  flying  at  his 
masthead.  Bad  omens  cast  their  shadows  over  this 
great  expedition  of  the  last  of  the  sea-kings,  but 
away  he  sailed  to  the  Shetland  Islands  and  left  his 
wife  and  daughters  there,  while  he  gained  new  allies  ; 
and  still  farther  south,  Tostig  came  to  meet  him 
with  a  new  army  which  he  had  gathered  in  Flan- 
ders. An  Irish  chieftain  and  a  great  lord  from  Ice- 
land were  there  too,  and  down  they  all  came  upon  the 
defenceless  country  that  was  marked  as  their  pre}', 
burning  and  destroying  church  and  castle  and  humble 
homestead,  daring  the  Englishmen  to  come  out  and 
fight  and  drive  them  away  again.     We  have  no  time 


292  THE    STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

to  trace  their  lawless  campaign.  The  two  northern 
earls  summoned  their  vassals,  but  in  a  few  days  after 
the  Northmen  had  landed  they  had  taken,  without 
much  trouble  it  appears  to  us,  the  city  of  York,  and 
news  was  hurriedly  sent  to  the  king  of  England. 

What  a  grievous  message  !  Harold,  the  son  of 
Godwine,  was  ill,  his  southern  coast  was  undefended, 
still  he  could  not  forget  the  message  that  William 
had  sent  to  him  late  in  the  summer  by  a  spy  who  had 
crossed  to  Normandy,  that  the  Normans  would  soon 
come  and  teach  him  how  many  they  were  and  what 
they  could  do.  But  a  holy  abbot  consoled  the  king 
by  telling  him  that  Eadward  the  Confessor  had  shown 
himself  in  a  vision  and  assured  his  successor  of  cer- 
tain victory. 

The  prophecy  was  proved  to  be  true ;  the  king  sum- 
moned his  strength  and  his  soldiers  and  marched 
to  York.  There  King  Harold  was  to  set  up  his  new 
kingdom ;  he  had  not  the  desire  for  revenge  that 
filled  Tostig's  breast,  and  was  anxious  to  prove  him- 
self a  generous  and  wise  ruler.  As  he  came  toward 
the  walls  which  had  been  so  easily  won,  the  rival 
Harold's  army  comes  in  sight — first  a  great  cloud  of 
dust  like  a  whirlwind,  and  next  the  shining  spears 
prick  through  and  glitter  ominously.  A  little  later 
Harold  of  England  sends  a  message  to  his  brother 
Tostig.  He  shall  have  again  his  kingdom  of  North- 
umberland if  he  will  be  loyal ;  and  Tostig  sends  back 
a  message  in  his  turn  to  ask  what  shall  be  the  portion 
of  Harold  Hardrada.  "Seven  feet  of  English  ground 
for  his  grave,"  says  the  other  Harold,  and  the  fight 
begins. 


NEWS  FROM  ENGLAND.  29I 

Alas  for  the  tall  Northman,  the  winner  of  eighty 
castles  from  the  Saracens,  the  scourge  of  Moslem 
and  robber  in  Palestine  ;  the  ally  of  Sicily,  of  Rus- 
sia, and  the  Greeks  !  Alas  for  the  kingdom  he  had 
lightly  lost  in  Norway !  Alas  for  the  wife  and 
daughters  who  were  watching  all  through  those 
shortening  September  days  in  the  Orkneys  for  the 
triumphant  return  of  the  fleet — for  Harold  the  saga- 
man  and  sea-king,  who  built  his  hopes  too  high.  He 
may  be  fierce  with  the  old  rage  of  the  Berserkers,  and 
lay  sturdily  about  him  with  his  heavy  two-handed 
sword  ;  he  may  mow  down  great  swaths  of  English- 
men like  grain,  but  the  moment  comes  when  an 
arrow  flies  with  its  sharp  whistle  straight  at  his 
throat,  and  he  falls  dead,  and  his  best  fighters  fall  in 
heaps  above  him  ;  the  flag  of  the  Black  Raven  of 
Norway  is  taken.  Tostig  is  dead,  and  Harold  of 
England  is  winner  of  that  great  day  at  Stamford 
Bridge,  the  last  great  victory  that  he  and  his  men 
would  ever  win,  the  last  fight  of  England  before  the 
Conquest.  Out  of  the  crowd  of  ships  that  had  come 
from  the  North  only  four  and  twenty  sailed  away 
again,  and  Harold  made  peace  with  the  Orkney-men 
and  the  Icelanders  and  the  rest.  Since  that  day 
there  has  been  peace  between  England  and  the  coun- 
tries of  the  Northern  Seas.  Harold's  last  victory 
was  with  the  past,  one  might  say,  with  the  North- 
men of  another  age  and  time,  as  if  the  last  tie  of  his 
country  were  broken  with  the  old  warfare  and  earlier 
enemies.  New  relationships  were  established,  the 
final  struggle  for  mastery  was  decided.  The  battle 
of  Stamford  Bridge  might  have  been  called  a  deadly 


294  THE    STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

game  at  jousting,  and  the  English  knight  receives 
the  prize  and  rides  home  the  victor  of  the  tourna- 
ment. Yet  that  very  day  of  triumph  saw  the  ap- 
proach of  a  new  foe — the  Norman  ships  full  of  horses 
and  men  are  ready  to  put  out  for  the  English  shore. 
Harold  must  fight  another  battle  and  lose  it,  and  a 
new  order  of  things  must  begin  in  Britain.  The 
Northmen  and  the  Normans  ;  it  is  a  long  step  be- 
tween the  two,  and  yet  England's  past  and  her  future 
meet ;  the  swordsmen's  arms  that  ache  from  one 
battle  must  try  their  strength  again  in  another  ;  but 
the  Normans  bring  great  gifts  at  the  point  of  their 
arrows — without  them  "  England  would  have  been 
mechanical,  not  artistic  ;  brave,  not  chivalrous  ;  the 
home  of  learning,  not  of  thought." 

Three  days  after  the  fight  Harold  sits  at  a  splendid 
banquet  among  his  friends,  and  a  breathless  mes- 
senger comes  in  fleet-footed  with  bad  news.  Muster 
your  axemen  and  lances,  Harold,  King  of  the  Eng- 
lish ;  the  Normans  have  come  like  a  flight  of  locusts 
and  are  landing  on  the  coast  of  Kent. 


1 

s 

1 

XV. 

THE   BATTLE   OF    HASTINGS. 

"  I  see  thy  glory,  like  a  shooting  st4r, 

Fall  to  the  base  earth  from  the  firmament  ! 
Thy  sun  sets  weeping  in  the  lowly  west." 

— Shakespeare. 

Early  in  the  summer  there  was  a  sound  of  wood- 
chopping  and  a  crash  of  falling  trees  in  the  forests  of 
Normandy,  and  along  her  shores  in  the  shipyards 
the  noise  of  shipwrights'  mallets  began,  and  the 
forging  of  bolts  and  chains.  The  hemp-fields  enlarge 
their  borders,  and  catch  the  eye  quickly  with  their 
brilliant  green  leafage.  There  is  no  better  trade  now 
than  that  of  the  armorer's,  and  many  a  Norman  knight 
sees  to  it  that  the  Hnks  of  his  chain-mail  jerkin  and 
helmet  are  strongly  sewn,  and  that  he  is  likely  to  be 
well  defended  by  the  clanking  habit  that  he  must 
buckle  on.  Horses  and  men  are  drilling  in  the 
castle  yards,  and  every  baron  gathers  his  troop,  and 
is  stern  in  his  orders  and  authority.  The  churches 
are  crowded,  the  priests  are  urging  the  holy  cause, 
and  war  is  in  everybody's  mind.  The  cherry  blos- 
soms whiten  and  fall,  the  apple-trees  are  covered 
with  rosy  snow,  mid-summer  sees  the  young  fruit 
greaten  on  the  boughs,  the  sun  rides  high  in  the  sky, 

29.^ 


296  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

and  the  soldiers'  mail  weighs  heavy  ;  through  the 
country-lanes  go  troops  of  footmen  and  horsemen 
You  can  see  the  tips  of  their  unstrung  bows  moving 
above  the  hedges,  and  their  furled  banners  with 
heraldic  device  or  pious  seal.  They  are  all  going 
toward  the  sea,  toward  the  mouth  of  the  river  Dive. 
The  peasant  women  and  children  stand  in  their  cot- 
tage doors  and  watch  the  straggling  processions  on 
their  way.  It  is  indeed  a  cause  to  aid  with  one's 
pray e rs ,  th is-war  against- t4i e  h eathen-  Engl i sh . 

All  summer  long,  armed  men  were  collecting  at 
William's  head-quarters  from  every  part  of  Normandy, 
or  wherever  his  summons  had  wakened  a  favorable 
response.  If  we  can  believe  the  chroniclers,  the  army 
was  well  paid  and  well  fed  and  kept  in  good  order. 
It  became  a  question  which  army  would  hold  its 
ground  longest  ;  Harold's,  on  the  Sussex  downs,  or 
William's,  by  the  Dive.  At  last,  news  was  brought 
that  the  Englishmen  were  disbanded,  then  the  French- 
men— as  we  begin  to  hear  our  Normans  called, — the 
Frefichmen  begin  to  make  ready  for  their  expedition. 
There  may  have  been  skirmishes  by  sea  in  the  hot 
weather,  but  it  was  not  until  early  autumn  that  Wil- 
liam gave  orders  to  embark.  There  are  different  sto- 
ries about  the  magnitude  of  the  force.  The  defeated 
party  would  have  us  believe  that  they  were  enor- 
mously overpowered,  and  so  set  the  numbers  very 
high ;  the  conquerors,  on  the  other  hand,  insist  that 
they  had  not  quantity  so  much  as  quality  to  serve 
them  in  the  fight,  and  that  it  was  not  the  size  of 
their  army  but  the  valor  of  it  that  won  the  day. 
We  are  told  that  there  were  six  hundred  and  ninety- 


THE  BATTLE    OF  HASTINGS. 


297 


six  ships  and  fourteen  thousand  men  ;  we  are  told 
also  that  there  were  more  than  three  thousand  ships 
and  sixty  thousand  men,  all  told  ;  and  other  accounts 
range  between  these  two  extremes. 

For  a  month  the  Norman  army  waited  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Dive  for  a  south  wind,  but  no  south 
wind  blew,  while  an  adverse  storm  scattered  them 
and  strewed  the  shore  with  Norman  bodies.   At  last, 


NORMAN   VESSEL.       (fRO.M  EAYEUX  TAPESTRY.) 


the  duke  took  advantage  of  a  westerly  breeze  and 
set  sail  for  St.  Valery,  off  the  coast  of  Ponthieu,  from 
whence  he  hoped  to  go  more  easily  over  to  England. 
At  the  famous  abbey  of  St.  Valery  he  was  saying  his 
prayers  and  watching  the  weather-cocks  for  fifteen 
days,  and  he  and  his  captains  made  generous  offer- 
ings at  the  holy  shrines.  The  monks  came  out  at 
last  in  solemn  procession  bearing  their  sacred  relics, 
and  the  Norman  host  knelt  devoutly  and  did  homaee. 


298  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

At  Caen,  in  June,  the  two  great  minsters  had  been 
dedicated,  and  WilHam  and  Matilda  had  given  their 
young  daughter  Cecily  to  the  service  of  God,  to- 
gether with  rich  offerings  of  lands  and  money. 
In  their  own  churches,  therefore,  and  at  many  an- 
other Norman  altar  beside,  prayer  and  praise  never 
ceased  in  those  days  while  Harold  was  marching  to 
Stamford  Bridge. 

At  last,  on  Wednesday,  the  twenty-seventh  of 
September,  the  wind  went  round  to  the  southward, 
and  the  great  fleet  sailed.  The  soldiers  believed 
that  their  prayers  had  been  answered,  and  that  they 
were  the  favorites  of  heaven.  They  crowded  on 
board  the  transport-ships,  and  were  heedless  of  every 
thing  save  that  they  were  not  left  behind,  and  had 
their  armor  and  weapons  ready  for  use.  The  trum- 
pets were  playing,  their  voices  cried  loud  above  the 
music  that  echoed  back  in  eager  strains  from  the 
shore.  The  horsemen  shouted  at  their  horses,  and 
the  open  ships  were  plainer  copies  of  the  dragon- 
ships  of  old  ;  they  carried  gayly  dressed  gentlemen, 
and  shining  gonfanons,  and  thickets  of  glittering 
spears.  The  shields  were  rich  with  heraldic  blazon- 
ing, and  the  golden  ship.  Mora,  that  the  Duchess 
Matilda  had  given  to  the  duke,  shone  splendid  on 
the  gray  water,  as  just  at  evening  William  himself 
set  sail  and  turned  the  gilded  figure  of  a  boy  blowing 
an  ivory  trumpet,  like  some  herald  of  certain  vic- 
tory, toward  the  shore  of  Kent.  The  Pope's  sacred 
banner  was  given  to  the  welcome  breeze,  and  Wil- 
liam's own  standard,  figured  with  the  three  lions  of 
Normandy,    fluttered  and  spread  itself   wide.     The 


THE  BATTLE   OF  HASTINGS.  20f^ 

colored  sails  looked  gay,  the  soldiers  sang  and 
cheered,  and  away  they  went  without  a  fear,  these 
blessed  Normans  of  the  year  1066.  On  the  Mora's 
masthead  blazed  a  great  lantern  when  the  darkness 
fell.     It   was  a  cloudy  night. 

In  the  early  morning,  the  Mora  being  lighter-laden 
than  the  rest,  found  herself  alone  on  the  sea,  out  of 
sight  of  either  land  or  ships,  but  presently  the  loiter- 
ing forest  of  masts  rose  into  view.  At  nine  o'clock 
William  had  landed  at  Pevensey  on  the  Sussex 
shore.  As  he  set  foot  for  the  second  time  on  Eng- 
lish soil,  he  tripped  and  fell,  and  the  bystanders 
gave  a  woful  groan  at  such  a  disastrous  omen.  "  By 
the  splendor  of  God,"  cried  the  duke,  in  his  favorite 
oath,  "  I  have  taken  seizin  of  my  kingdom  ;  see  the 
earth  of  England  in  my  two  hands  !  "  at  which  ready 
turn  of  wit  a  soldier  pulled  a  handful  of  thatch  from 
a  cottage  roof  and  gave  it  to  his  master  for  a  further 
token  of  proprietorship.  This  also  was  seizin  of  all 
that  England  herself  embraced. 

There  was  nobody  to  hinder  the  Normans  from 
landing  or  going  where  they  pleased.  At  Pevensey 
they  stayed  only  one  day  for  lack  of  supplies,  and 
then  set  out  eastward  toward  Hastings.  In  the 
Bayeux  tapestry,  perhaps  the  most  reliable  authority 
so  far  as  it  goes,  there  is  an  appealing  bit  of  work 
that  pictures  a  burning  house  with  a  woman  and 
little  child  making  their  escape.  The  only  places  of 
safety,  we  are  told  elsewhere,  were  the  churchyards 
and  the  churches.  William's  piety  could  hardly 
let  him  destroy  even  an  enemy's  sacred  places  of 
worship. 


300  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

The  next  few  days  were  filled  with  uncertainty 
and  excited  expectancy.  Clearly  there  was  no  army 
in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Hastings;  the 
Normans  had  that  part  of  the  world  to  themselves 
apparently,  and  hours  and  days  went  by  leaving 
them  undisturbed.  Many  a  voice  urged  that  they 
might  march  farther  into  the  country,  but  their 
wary  leader  possessed  his  soul  -in  patience,  and  at 
last  came  the  news  of  the  great  battle  in  the  north, 
of  Harold's  occupation  of  York,  and  the  terrible  dis- 
aster that  had  befallen  the  multitude  of  Harold 
Hardrada  and  Tostig,  with  their  allies.  Now,  too, 
came  a  message  to  the  duke  from  Norman  Robert 
the  Staller,  who  had  stood  by  the  Confessor's  death- 
bed, and  who  kept  a  warm  heart  for  the  country  of 
his  birth,  though  he  had  become  a  loyal  Englishman 
in  his  later  years.  Twenty  thousand  men  have  been 
slain  in  the  north,  he  sends  word  to  William  ;  the 
English  were  mad  with  pride  and  rejoicing.  The 
Normans  were  not  strong  enough  nor  many  enough 
to  risk  a  battle  ;  they  would  be  like  dogs  among 
wolves,  and  would  be  worse  than  overthrown.  But 
William  was  scornful  of  such  advice — he  had  come 
to  fight  Harold,  and  he  would  meet  him  face  to 
face — he  would  risk  the  battle  if  he  had  only  a  sixth 
part  as  many  men  as  followed  him,  eager  as  himself 
for  his  rights. 

Harold  had  bestirred  his  feasting  and  idle  army, 
and  held  council  of  his  captains  at  York.  Normans 
and  French  and  the  men  of  Brittany  had  landed  at 
Pevensey  in  numbers  like  the  sand  of  the  sea  and 
the  stars  of  heaven.     If  only  the   south   wind   had 


302  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

blown  before,  so  that  he  might  have  met  these  in- 
vaders with  his  vahant  army,  too  soon  dispersed  ! 
To  have  beaten  back  William  and  then  have  marched 
north  to  Stamford  Bridge,  that,  indeed,  would  have 
been  a  noble  record.  Now  the  Normans  \vcre  burn- 
ing and  destroying  unhindered  in  the  south  ;  what 
should  be  done  ?  And  every  captain-baron  of  the 
English  gave  his  word  that  he  would  call  no  man 
king  but  Harold  the  son  of  Godwine ;  and  with  little 
rest  from  the  battle  just  fought,  they  made  ready  to 
march  to  London.  They  knew  well  enough  what 
this  new  invasion  meant ;  a  prophetic  dread  filled 
their  hearts,  for  it  was  not  alone  out  of  loyalty  to 
Harold,  but  for  love  of  England,  that  these  men  of 
different  speech  and  instincts  must  be  pushed  off 
the  soil  to  which  they  had  no  lawful  claim. 

The  fame  of  the  northern  victory  brought  crowds 
of  recruits  to  the  two  banners,  the  Dragon  of  Wessex 
and  Harold's  own  standard,  the  Fighting  Man,  as 
they  were  carried  south  again.  Nothing  succeeds 
like  success  ;  if  Harold  could  conquer  the  great  Har- 
drada,  it  were  surely  not  impossible  to  defeat  the 
Norman  duke.  So  the  thanes  and  churchmen  alike 
rallied  to  the  Fighting  Man.  The  earls  of  the  north 
half  promised  to  follow,  but  they  never  kept  their 
word;  perhaps  complete  independence  might  follow 
now  their  half-resented  southern  vassalage.  At 
least  they  did  not  mean  to  fight  the  battles  of  Wes- 
sex until  there  was  no  chance  for  evasion.  But  while 
Harold  waited  at  London,  men  flocked  together  from 
the  west  and  south,  and  he  spent  some  days  in  his 
royal  house  at  Westminster,  heavy-hearted  and  full 


THE  BATTLE   OF  HASTINGS.  303 

of  care  in  his  great  extremity.  He  was  too  good  a 
general,  he  had  seen  too  much  of  the  Norman  sol- 
diery already  to  underrate  their  prowess  in  battle  ; 
he  shook  his  head  gloomily  when  his  officers  spoke 
with  scorn  of  their  foes.  One  day  he  went  on  a  pil- 
grimage to  his  own  abbey  at  Waltham,  and  the 
monks'  records  say  that,  while  he  prayed  there  be- 
fore the  altar  and  confessed  his  sins  and  vowed  his 
fealty  to  God,  who  reigns  over  all  the  kingdoms 
of  the  earth  ;  while  he  lay  face  downward  on  the 
sacred  pavement,  the  figure  of  Christ  upon  the  cross 
bowed  its  head,  as  if  to  say  again,  "  It  is  finished." 
Thurkill,  the  sacristan,  saw  this  miracle,  and  knew 
that  all  hope  must  be  put  aside,  and  that  Harold's 
cause  was  already  lost. 

Next,  the  Norman  duke  sent  a  message  to  West- 
minster by  a  monk  from  the  abbey  of  Fecamp,  and 
there  was  parleying  to  and  fro  about  Harold's  and 
William's  rival  claims  to  the  English  crown.  It 
was  only  a  formal  challenging  and  a  final  provocation 
to  the  Englishmen  to  come  and  fight  for  their  leader, 
there  where  the  invaders  had  securely  entrenched  and 
established  themselves.  "  Come  and  drive  us  home 
if  you  dare,  if  you  can  !  "  the  Normans  seemed  to  say 
tauntingly,  and  Harold  saw  that  he  must  make  haste 
lest  the  duke  should  be  strengthened  by  reinforce- 
ments or  have  time  to  make  himself  harder  to  dis- 
lodge. William's  demand  that  he  should  come  down 
from  the  throne  had  been  put  into  insolent  words, 
and  the  Kentish  people  were  being  pitifully  dis- 
tressed and  brought  to  beggary  by  the  host  of 
foreigners.     Yet  Gyrth,  the  son  of  Godwine,  begged 


304  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

his  royal  brother  to  stay  in  London  ;  to  let  him  go 
and  fight  the  Normans;  and  the  people  begged  Har- 
old, at  the  last  moment,  to  listen  to  such  good 
counsel.  But  Harold  refused  ;  he  could  never  play 
coward's  part,  or  let  a  man  who  loved  him  fight  a 
battle  in  his  stead  ;  and  so  when  six  days  were  spent 
he  marched  away  to  the  fight  where  the  two  greatest 
generals  the  world  held  must  match  their  strength 
one  against  the  other,  hand  to  hand.  The  King  of 
England  had  a  famous  kingdom  to  lose,  the  Duke 
of  Normandy  had  a  famous  kingdom  to  win. 

On  the  night  before  the  fourteenth  of  October,  the 
armies  stood  before  each  other  near  Hastings,  on  the 
field  of  Senlac,  now  called  Battle.  They  made  their 
camps  hastily  ;  for  hosts  of  them  the  rude  shelters 
were  a  last  earthly,  dwelling-place  and  habitation  of 
earthly  hopes  or  fears.  Through  the  Norman  en- 
campment went  bands  of  priests,  and  the  Normans 
prayed  and  confessed  their  sins.  The  Bishop  of 
Coutances  and  Duke  William's  half-brother  Odo, 
Bishop  of  Bayeux,  both  these  high  officials  of  the 
Church  were  there  to  stay  the  hands  of  their  parish- 
ioners, and  uphold  the  devout  fighters  in  this  cru- 
sade. Odo  made  the  soldiers  promise  that  whoever 
survived  the  morrow's  battle  would  never  again  eat 
meat  on  Saturday ;  by  such  petty  means  he  hoped 
to  gain  success  at  the  hands  of  God  who  rules  bat- 
tles on  a  larger  scope,  and  who,  through  tlie  quarrels 
and  jealousies  of  men,  brings  slowly  near  the  day 
when  justice  shall  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. 
They  sang  hymns ;  the  watch-fires  flickered  and 
faded  ;  the  gray  morning  dawned,  and  there  in  the 


THE   BATTLE    OF  HASTINGS. 


305 


dim  light  stood  the  EngHsh  on  a  hillside  that  jutted 
like  a  promontory  into  the  marshy  plain.  A  wood- 
land lay  behind  them,  as  if  the  very  trees  of  the  Eng- 
lish soil  had  mustered  with  the  men  ;  in  the  thickest 
of  the  ranks  was  Harold's 
royal  banner,  the  Fighting 
Man,  and  Harold  himself 
stood  close  beside  it  with 
his  brothers.  The  awful 
battle-axes,  stained  yet 
with  the  blood  of  those 
who  died  at  Stamford 
Bridge,  were  in  every 
man's  hand,  and  every 
man  was  sheltered  by 
his  shield  and  kept  si- 
lence. The  Normans 
saw  their  foes  stand  wait- 
ing all  together  shoulder 
to  shoulder,  yet  there  was 
silence — an  awful  stillness 
in  which  to  see  so  vast  a 
host  of  men,  and  yet  not 
hear  them  speak.  The 
English  had  feasted  that 
night,  and  sung  their 
songs,  and  told  the  story 
of    the     northern    fight. 

How  their  battle-axes  looked  gray  and  cold  as  the 
light  dawned  more  and  more!  The  Normans  kncv.- 
that  they  might  feel  the  bitter  edges  and  the  cleav::^;; 
steel  of  them  ere  the  day  was  spent. 


A   NORMAN     MINSTREL. 


3o6  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMaKS. 

Archers  first,  behind  them  the  lancers,  and  behind 
all,  the  horsemen  ;  so  the  Normans  were  placed,  high- 
hearted and  bold  with  their  great  errand.  To  gain  is 
better  than  to  keep  ;  by  night  this  England  might  be 
theirs  in  spite  of  the  battle-axes.  While  the  day 
was  yet  young,  Taillefer,  the  minstrel,  went  riding 
boldly  out  from  the  ranks  singing  the  song  of  Roland 
and  Charlemagne  at  Roncesvalles,  tossing  his  sword 
lightly  and  fast  into  the  air  and  catching  it  deftly 
as  he  galloped  to  the  English  lines.  There  sat  the 
duke  on  his  horse  that  was  a  present  from  the  king 
of  Spain.  His  most  holy  relics  were  hung  about  his 
neck  ;  as  he  glanced  from  Taillefer  along  his  army 
front  he  could  see  the  Cotentin  men,  led  by  Neal  of 
Saint  Saviour,  and  his  thoughts  may  have  gone  back 
quickly  to  the  battle  of  his  early  youth  at  \^al-es- 
dunes.  What  a  mighty  host  had  gathered  at  his 
summons  !  All  his  Norman  enemies  were  his  follow- 
ers now  ;  he  had  won  great  championship,  and  if  this 
day's  fortune  did  not  turn  against  him,  the  favor  of 
the  Holy  Mother  Church  at  Rome,  the  church  of  the 
apostles  and  martyrs,  was  won  indeed  ;  and  no  gift  in 
Christendom  would  be  more  proudly  honored  than 
this  kingdom  of  England  made  loyal  to  the  papal 
crown.  William  the  Bastard,  the  dishonored,  in- 
sulted grandson  of  a  Falaise  tanner, — William,  the 
Duke  of  proud  Normandy,  at  the  head  of  a  host, 
knocking  at  the  gates  of  England  ;  nay,  let  ussetth*^ 
contrast  wider  yet,  and  show  Rolf  the  Ganger,  wet 
by  salt  spray  on  the  deck  of  his  dragon-ship,  steering 
boldly  southward,  and  William,  Duke  of  the  Nor- 
mans, rich  and  great,  a  master  of  masters,  and  soon 


THE   BATTLE   OF  HASTINGS.  30/ 

to  be  king  of  a  wide  and  noble  land,  and  winner 
of  a  great  battle,  if  the  saints  whom  he  worshipped 
would  fight  upon  his  side. 

Taillefer  has  killed  his  two  men,  and  been  killed 
in  his  turn  ;  his  song  has  ended,  and  his  sword  has 
dropped  from  his  hand.  The  Normans  cry  "  Dex 
aide  !  Dex  aide  !  Ha  Ron  !  "  and  rush  boldly  up  the 
hill  to  Harold's  palisades.  The  arrows  flew  in  show- 
ers, but  the  English  stand  solid  and  hew  at  the 
horsemen  and  footmen  from  behind  their  shields. 
Every  man,  even  the  king,  was  on  foot ;  they  shouted 
"  Out  !  out  !  "  as  the  Normans  came  near  ;  they  cried 
"■  God  Almighty  !  "  and  "  Holy  Cross  !  "  and  at  this 
sound  Harold  must  have  sadly  remembered  how  the 
■crucifix  had  bowed  its  head  as  he  lay  prone  before 
it.  And  the  fight  grew  hotter  and  hotter,  the  Nor- 
mans were  beaten  back,  and  returned  again  fiercely 
to  the  charge,  down  the  hill,  now  up  the  hill  over 
the  palisades,  like  a  pouring  river  of  men,  dealing 
stinging  sword-thrusts — dropping  in  clumsy  heaps  of 
javelin-pricked  and  axe-smitten  lifelessness ;  from 
swift,  bright-eyed  men  becoming  a  bloody  mass  to 
stumble  over,  or  feebly  crying  for  mercy  at  the  feet 
that  trampled  them  ;  so  the  fight  went  on.  Harold 
sent  his  captains  to  right  and  left,  and  William 
matched  his  captains  against  them  valiantly.  The 
Norman  arrows  were  falling  blunted  and  harmless  from 
the  English  shields,  and  he  told  the  archers  to  shoot 
higher  and  aim  so  that  the  arrows  might  fall  from 
above  into  the  Englishmen's  faces.  There  was  no 
sound  of  guns  or  smoke  of  powder  in  that  day,  only 
a    fearful    wrangling   and    chopping,   and  a  whir  of 


308  THE   STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

arrow  and  lance  and  twang  of  bowstring.  Yes,  and 
a  dolorous  groaning  as  closer  and  closer  the  armies 
grappled  with  each  other,  hand  to  hand. 

Hour  after  hour  the  day  spent  itself,  and  the  fight 
would  never  be  done.  There  was  a  cry  that  the 
duke  was  dead,  and  he  pulled  off  his  helmet  and  hur- 
ried along  the  lines  to  put  new  courage  into  his  men. 
The  arrows  were  dropping  like  a  deadly  rain,  the 
axemen  and  lancers  were  twisted  and  twined  together 
like  melted  rock  that  burns  and  writhes  its  way 
through  widening  crack  and  crevice.  The  hot 
flood  of  Normans  in  chain-mail  and  pointed  helmets 
sweeps  this  way,  and  the  English  with  their  leathern 
caps  and  their  sturdy  shoulders  mailed  like  their 
enemies,  swinging  their  long-handled  weapons,  pour 
back  again,  and  so  the  day  draws  near  its  end,  while 
the  races  mix  in  symbolic  fashion  in  the  fight  as  they 
must  mix  in  government,  in  blood,  in  brotherhood, 
and  in  ownership  of  England  while  England  stands. 

Harold  has  fallen,  the  gleaming  banner  of  the 
Fighting  Man,  with  its  golden  thread  and  jewelry,  is 
stained  with  blood  and  mire.  An  arrow  has  gone 
deep  into  the  king's  eye  and  brain  ;  he  has  fallen, 
and  his  foes  strike  needless  blows  at  his  poor  body, 
lest  so  valiant  a  spirit  cannot  be  quieted  by  simple 
death.  The  English  have  lost  the  fight,  there  is  a 
cry  that  they  are  flying,  and  the  Normans  hear  it  and 
gather  their  courage  once  more  ;  they  rally  and  give 
chase.  All  at  once  there  is  a  shout  that  thrills  them 
through  and  through — a  glorious  moment  when  the}- 
discover  that  the  day  is  won.  William  the  Bastard 
is  William   the   Conqueror,   a    sad   word   for    many 


THE  BATTLE   OF  HASTINGS. 


309 


English  ears  in  days  to  come ;  to  us  the  sign  of 
great  gain  that  was  and  is  England's — of  the  further 
advance  of  a  kingdom  already  noble  and  strong. 
The  English  are  strongest,  but  the  Normans  are  quick- 
est. The  battle  has  been  given  to  Progress,  and  the 
Norman,  not  the  Saxon,  had  the  right  to  lead  the  way. 

But  the  field  of 
Senlac  makes  a  sad 
and  sorry  sight  as  the 
light  of  the  short  Oc- 
tober day  is  fading 
and  the  pale  stars 
shine  dimly  through 
the  chilly  mist  that 
gathers  in  from  the 
sea.  It  is  not  like 
the  bright  Norman 
weather ;  the  slow 
breeze  carries  a  faint, 
heavy  odor  of  fallen 
leaves,  and  the  very 
birds  give  awesome 
cries  as  they  fly 
over  the  battle-field. 
There  are  many  of 
the  victors  who  think 
of  the  spoils  of  Eng- 
land, but  some  better 
men  remember  that 
it  is  in  truth  a  mighty 
thing  to  have  con- 
quered such   a  country 


SOLDIER   IN   CLOAK. 


What  wil[  it  mean  in  very 


truth  that  England  is  theirs? 


310  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

Later,  William  the  Conqueror  and  his  knights  ara 
resting  and  feasting  and  bragging  of  their  deeds, 
there  where  Harold's  standards  were  overthrown  and 
the  banner  of  the  Three  Lions  of  Normandy  waves  in 
the  cool  night  wind.  The  living  men  look  like 
butcliers  from  the  shambles,  and  the  dead  lie  in 
heavy  heaps  ;  here  and  there  a  white  face  catches  a 
ray  of  light  and  appeals  for  pity  in  its  dumb  loneli- 
ness. There  are  groans  growing  ever  fainter,  and 
cries  for  help  now  and  then,  from  a  soldier  whose 
wits  have  come  back  to  him,  though  he  lay  stunned 
and  maimed  among  those  who  are  forever  silent. 
There  go  weeping  men  and  women  with  litters — they 
cannot  find  the  king,  and  they  must  lead  the  woman 
who  loved  hifn  best  of  all  the  earth,  Edith  the  Swan- 
throated,  through  this  terrible  harvest-field  to  dis- 
cover his  wounded  body  among  the  heaps  of  slain. 
He  must  be  buried  on  the  sea-shore,  the  Norman 
duke  gives  command  to  William  Malet,  and  so  guard 
forever  the  coast  he  tried  to  defend. 

The  heralds  of  victory  set  sail  exultantly  across 
the  brown  water  of  the  Channel ;  the  messengers  of 
defeat  go  mourning  to  London  and  through  the  sor- 
rowful English  towns.  Harold  the  son  of  Godwine, 
and  his  brother,  Gyrth  the  Good — yes,  and  the  flower 
of  all  Southern  England  ;  no  man  of  Harold's  own 
noble  following  lived  to  tell  the  story  and  to  bewail 
this  great  defeat.  There  were  some  who  lived  to 
talk  about  it  in  after  days ; — and  there  was  one  good 
joy  in  saying  that  as  the  Normans  pursued  them 
after  the-  day  was  lost,  th.e\-  hid  in  ambush  in  the 
fens   and   routed  their   pursuers   with   deadly,  unex- 


THE   BATTLE    OF  HASTINGS.  311 

pected  blows.  But  the  country  side  looked  on  with 
dismay  while  William  fought  his  way  to  London, 
not  without  much  toil  and  opposition,  but  at  last  the 
humbled  earldoms  willingly  or  unwillingly  received 
their  new  lord.  Since  Eadgar  the  underwitted  Athel- 
ing  was  not  fit  for  the  throne,  and  the  house  of  God- 
wine  had  fallen,  William  the  Norman  was  made  mon- 
arch of  England,  and  there  was  a  king-crowning  in 
Westminster  at  Christmas-tide. 


^M 

^^a^^SF  i%il 

^ 

P 

^tS^^^^M^ 

^ 

1 

XVI. 

WILLIAM    THE    CONQUEROR. 

Then  in  his  house  of  wood  with  flaxen  sails 
She  floats,  a  queen,  across  the  fateful  seas." 


—A.  F. 


Rather  than  follow  in  detail  the  twenty-one 
years  of  WilHam's  English  reign,  we  must  content 
ourselves  with  a  glance  at  the  main  features  of  it. 
We  cannot  too  often  remind  ourselves  of  the  re- 
semblance between  the  life  and  growth  of  a  nation 
and  the  life  and  growth  of  an  individual ;  but  while 
William  the  Conqueror  is  in  so  many  ways  typical  of 
Normandy,  and  it  is  most  interesting  to  follow  his 
personal  fortunes,  there  are  many  developments  of 
Norman  character  in  general  which  we  must  not 
overlook.  William  was  about  forty  years  old  when 
the  battle  of  Hastings  was  fought  and  won  ;  Nor- 
mandy, too,  was  in  her  best  vigor  and  full  develop- 
ment of  strength.  The  years  of  decadence  must 
soon  begin  for  both  ;  the  time  was  not  far  distant 
when  the  story  of  Normandy  ends,  and  it  is  only  in 
the  history  of  France  and  of  England  that  the 
familiar  Norman  characteristics  can  be  traced.  Fore- 
most in  vitalizing  force  and  power  of  centralization 
and  individuality,  while  so  much  of  Europe  was  un- 


WILLIAM   THE    CONQUEROR.  313 

settled  and  misdirected  toward  petty  ends,  this 
duchy  of  Rolf  the  Ganger  seems,  in  later  years,  like 
a  wild-flower  that  has  scattered  its  seed  to  every 
wind,  and  plants  for  unceasing  harvests,  but  must 
die  itself  in  the  first  frost  of  outward  assailment 
and  inward  weakness. 

The  march  to  London  had  been  any  thing  but  a 
triumphant  progress,  and  the  subjects  of  the  new 
king  were  very  sullen  and  vindictive.  England  was 
disheartened,  her  pride  was  humbled  to  the  dust,  and 
many  of  her  leaders  had  fallen.  In  the  dark  winter 
weather  there  was  sorrow  and  murmuring  ;  the  later 
law  of  the  curfew  bell,  a  most  wise  police  regulation, 
made  the  whole  country  a  prison. 

A  great  deal  of  harrying  had  been  thought  neces- 
sary before  the  people  were  ready  to  come  to  William 
and  ask  him  to  accept  the  crown.  William  had  a 
great  gift  for  biding  his  time,  and  in  the  end  the 
crown  was  proffered,  not  demanded.  We  learn  that 
the  folk  thought  better  of  their  conqueror  at  last, 
that  Cnut  was  remembered  kindly,  and  the  word 
went  from  mouth  to  mouth  that  England  might  do 
worse  than  take  this  famous  Christian  prince  to  rule 
over  her.  Harold  had  appealed  to  heaven  when 
the  fight  began  at  Senlac,  but  heaven  had  given  the 
victory  to  other  hands.  The  northern  earls  had  for- 
saken them,  and  at  any  rate  the  Norman  devasta- 
tions must  be  stopped.  If  William  would  do  for 
England  what  he  had  done  for  his  own  duchy  and 
make  it  feared  for  valor  and  respected  for  its  pros- 
perity like  Normandy,  who  could  ask  more?    So  the 


314  THE    STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

Juke  called  a  formal  council  of  his  high  noblemen 
and,  after  careful  consideration,  made  known  his 
acceptance  !  There  was  a  strange  scene  at  the  coro- 
nation in  Westminster.  Norman  horsemen  guarded 
the  neighboring  streets,  a  great  crowd  of  spectators 
filled  the  church,  and  when  the  question  was  put  to 
this  crowd,  w  hether  they  would  accept  William  for 
their  king,  there  was  an  eager  shout  of  "Yea!  yea! 
King  William  !  "  Perhaps  the  Normans  had  never 
heard  such  a  noisy  outcry  at  a  solemn  service. 
Again  the  shout  was  heard,  this  time  the  same  ques- 
tion had  been  repeated  in  the  French  tongue,  and 
again  the  answer  was  "  Yea  !  yea  !  " 

The  guards  outside  thought  there  was  some 
treachery  within,  and  feared  that  harm  might  come  to 
their  leader,  so,  by  way  of  antidote  or  revenge,  they 
set  fire  to  the  buildings  near  l^ie  minster  walls.  Out 
rushed  the  congregation  to  save  their  goods  or,  it 
might  be,  their  lives,  while  the  ceremony  went  on 
within,  and  the  duke  himself  trembled  with  appre- 
hension as  he  took  the  solemn  oath  of  an  English 
king,  to  do  justice  and  mercy  to  all  his  people. 
There  was  a  new  crown  to  be  put  on, — what  had  be- 
come of  the  Confessor's? — but  at  last  the  rite  was 
finished  and  William,  king  of  the  English,  with  hi>> 
priests  and  knights,  came  out  to  find  a  scene  of  ruin 
and  disorder;  it  was  all  strangely  typical — the  make- 
shift splendors,  the  new  order  of  church  and  state^ 
the  burning  hatred  and  suspicions  of  that  Christmas- 
tide.  •  Peace  on  earth,  good-will  to  men  !  alas,  it  was 
any  thing  but  that  in  the  later  years  of  William's 
reigrn. 


WILLIAM  THE   CONQUEROR.  3I5 

No  doubt  he  built  high  hopes  and  made  deep 
plans  for  good  governance  and  England's  glory.  He 
had  tamed  Normandy  to  his  guiding  as  one  tames  a 
wild  and  fiery  horse,  and  there  seemed  to  be  no 
reason  why  he  could  not  tame  England.  In  the  be- 
ginning he  attempted  to  prove  himself  lenient  and 
kind,  but  such  efforts  failed  ;  it  was  too  plain  that 
the  Normans  had  captured  England  and  meant  to 
enjoy  the  spoils.  The  estates  belonging  to  the 
dead  thanes  and  ealdormen,  who  fought  with  Harold, 
were  confiscated  and  divided  among  the  Normans: 
this  was-  the  fortune  of  war,  but  it  was  a  bitter 
grievance  and  injustice.  O,  for  another  Godwine! 
cried  many  a  man  and  woman  in  those  days.  O, 
for  another  Godwine  to  swoop  down  upon  these 
foreign  vultures  who  are  tearing  at  England's  heart ! 
But  even  in  the  Confessor's  time  there  was  little 
security  for  private  property.  We  have  even  seen 
the  Confessor's  own  wife  banished  from  his  side 
without  the  rich  dowry  she  had  brought  him,  and 
Godwine's  estates  had  been  seized  and  refunded  again, 
as  had  many  another  man's  in  the  reign  of  that  pious 
king  whom  everybody  was  ready  to  canonize  and 
deplore. 

After  the  king  had  given  orders  to  his  army 
to  stop  plundering  and  burning,  there  was  a  good 
deal  of  irregular  depredation  for  which  he  was  hardly 
responsible.  He  was  really  king  of  a  very  small  part 
of  England.  The  army  must  not  be  disbanded,  it 
must  be  kept  together  for  possible  defence,  but  the 
presence  of  such  a  body  of  rapacious  men,  who 
needed  food  and  lodging,  and  who  were  not  content 


3l6  THE   STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

unless  they  had  some  personal  gain  from  the  rich 
country  they  had  helped  to  win,  could  not  help 
being  disastrous.  Yet  there  is  one  certain  thing — 
the  duke  meant  to  be  master  of  his  new  possessions, 
and  could  use  Englishmen  to  keep  his  Norman  fol- 
lowers in  check,  while  he  could  indulge  his  own 
countrymen  in  their  love  of  power  and  aggrandize- 
ment at  England's  expense.  There  are  touching 
pictures  of  his  royal  progress  through  the  country  in 
the  early  part  of  his  reign  ;  the  widows  of  thanes 
and  the  best  of  the  churls  would  come  out  with  their 
little  children,  to  crave  mercy  and  the  restitution  of 
even  a  small  part  of  their  old  estates  to  save  them 
from  beggary.  Poor  women  !  it  was  upon  them  that 
the  heaviest  burden  fell  ;  the  w^omen  of  a  war-stricken 
country  suffer  by  far  the  most  from  change  and 
loss  ;  not  the  heroes  who  die  in  battle,  or  the 
heroes  who  live  to  tell  the  story  of  the  fight,  and 
who  have  been  either  victors  or  vanquished.  Men 
are  more  reasonable  ;  they  have  had  the  recompense 
of  taking  part  in  the  struggle.  If  they  have  been  in 
the  wrong  or  in  the  right,  great  truths  have  come 
home  to  them  as  they  stood  sword  in  hand. 

The  Norman  barons,  who  had  followed  their 
leader  beyond  the  Channel,  had  been  won  by  prom- 
ises, and  these  promises  must  be  kept.  They  were 
made  rich  with  the  conquered  lands,  and  given 
authorit}',  one  would  think,  to  their  heart's  content. 
They  were  made  the  king's  magistrates  and  counsel- 
lors, and  as  years  went  by  there  was  more  and  more 
resentment  of  all  this  on  the  part  of  the  English. 
They   hated  their   Norman    lords;    they  hated   the 


WILLIAM  THE    CONQUEROR.  317 

taxes  which  the  king  claimed.  The  strong  point  of 
the  Saxon  civihzation  was  local  self-government  and 
self-dependence  ;  but  the  weak  point  was  the  lack  of 
unity  and  want  of  proper  centralization  and  superin- 
tendence. William  was  wise  in  overcoming  this ; 
instead  of  giving  feudalism  its  full  sway  and  making 
his  Norman  barons  petty  monarchs  with  right  of 
coinage  and  full  authority  over  their  own  dominion, 
he  claimed  the  homage  and  loyalty,  the  absolute 
allegiance  of  his  subjects.  But  for  his  foresight  in 
making  such  laws,  England  might  have  been  such 
a  kingdom  as  Charles  the  Simple's  or  Hugh  Capet's, 
and  hampered  with  feudal  lords  greater  than  their 
monarch  in  every  thing  but  name. 

In  England,  at  last,  every  man  held  his  land 
directly  from  the  king  and  was  responsible  to  him. 
The  Witanagemot  was  continued,  but  turned  into 
a  sort  of  feudal  court  in  which  the  officials  of  the 
kingdom,  the  feudal  lords,  had  places.  The  Witan 
became  continually  a  smaller  body  of  men,  who  were 
joined  with  those  officers  of  the  royal  power  higher 
than  they.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  Con- 
queror did  not  make  his  claim  to  the  throne  because 
he  had  won  his  right  by  the  sword.  He  always 
insisted  that  he  was  the  lawful  successor  to 
Eadward,  and  the  name  of  Harold  the  Usurper 
was  omitted  from  the  list  of  English  kings.  Follow- 
ing this  belief  or  pretence  he  was  always  careful 
to  respect  the  nationality  of  the  country,  and  made 
himself  as  nearly  as  possible  an  Englishman.  His 
plans  for  supplanting  the  weakness  and  insularity  of 
many   English   institutions   by   certain   Continental 


3l8      THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

fashions,  wrought  a  tremendous  change,  and  put  the 
undeveloped  and  self-centred  kingdom  that  he  had 
won,  on  a  footing  with  other  European  powers.  The 
very  taxes  which  were  wrung  from  the  unwilling 
citizens,  no  doubt,  forced  them  to  wider  enterprise 
and  the  expansion  of  their  powers  of  resource.  Much 
of  England's  later  growth  has  sprung  from  seed 
that  was  planted  in  these  years — this  early  spring- 
time of  her  prosperity,  when  William's  stern  hands 
swept  from  field  and  forest  the  vestiges  of  earlier 
harvests,  and  cleared  the  garden  grounds  into  leafless 
deserts,  only  to  make  them  ready  for  future  crops. 

The  very  lowest  classes  were  more  fortunate  under 
William's  rule  than  they  had  been  in  earlier  times. 
Their  rights  and  liberties  were  extended,  and  they 
could  claim  legal  defence  against  the  tyrannies  of 
their  masters.  But  the  upper  ranks  of  people  were 
much  more  dissatisfied  and  unhappy.  The  spirit  of 
the  laws  was  changed  ;  the  language  of  the  court 
was  a  foreign  language  ;  and  the  modified  feudalism 
of  the  king  put  foreigners  in  all  high  places,  who 
could  hold  the  confiscated  estates,  and  laugh  at  the 
former  masters  now  made  poor  and  resourceless. 
The  folk-land  had  become  Terra  Regis ;  England 
was  only  a  part  of  Normandy,  and  the  king  was 
often  away,  busier  with  the  affairs  of  his  duchy 
than  of  his  kingdom.  Yet,  as  had  often  happened 
before  in  this  growing  nation's  lifetime,  a  sure  process 
of  amalgamation  was  going  on,  and  though  the  fire 
of  discontent  was  burning  hot,  the  gold  that  was 
England's  and  the  gold  that  was  Normandy's  were 
being  melted  together  and  growing  into  a  greater 


WILLIAM  THE   CONQUEROR.  3ig 

freasure  than  either  had  been  alone.  We  can  best 
understand  the  individuaHty  and  vital  force  of  the 
Norman  people  by  seeing  the  difference  their  coming 
to  England  has  made  in  the  English  character.  We 
cannot  remind  ourselves  of  this  too  often.  The 
Norman  of  the  Conqueror's  day  was  already  a  man 
of  the  world.  The  hindering  conditions  of  English 
life  were  localism  and  lack  of  unity.  We  can  see  al- 
most a  tribal  aspect  in  the  jealousies  of  the  earldoms, 
the  lack  of  sympathy  or  brotherhood  between  the 
different  quarters  of  the  island.  William's  earls  were 
only  set  over  single  shires,  and  the  growth  of  inde- 
pendence was  rendered  impossible  ;  and  his  greatest 
benefaction  to  his  new  domain  was  a  thoroughly  or- 
ganized system  of  law.  As  we  linger  over  the  ac- 
counts of  his  reign,  harsh  and  cruel  and  unlovable 
as  he  appears,  it  is  rather  the  cruelty  of  the  surgeon 
than  of  a  torturer  or  of  a  cut-throat.  The  presence 
of  the  Normans  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  must 
have  seemed  particularly  irritating  and  inflammatory, 
but  we  can  understand,  now  that  so  many  centuries 
have  smoothed  away  the  scars  they  left,  that  the 
stimulus  of  their  energy  and  their  hot  ambition 
helped  the  rest  of  the  world  to  take  many  steps 
forward. 

While  we  account  for  the  deeds  of  the  fighting 
Normans,  and  their  later  effects,  we  must  not  forget 
their  praying  brethren  who  stood  side  by  side  with 
them,  lording  it  over  the  English  lands  and  reaching 
out  willing  hands  for  part  of  the  spoils.  We  must 
thank  them  for  their  piety  and  their  scholarship,  and 
for  the  great  churches  they  founded,  even  while  we 


320  THE   STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

laugh  at  the  greed  and  wordHness  under  their  monk- 
ish cloaks.  Lanfranc  was  made  bishop  of  Canter- 
bury, and  wherever  the  Conqueror's  standard  was 
planted,  wherever  he  gained  foothold,  as  the  tide  of 
his  military  rule  ebbed  and  flowed,  he  planted 
churches  and  monasteries.  Especially  he  watched 
over  his  high-towered  Rattle  Abbey,  which  marked 
the  spot  where  the  banner  of  the  Fighting  Man  was 
defeated  and  the  banner  of  the  Three  Lions  of 
Normandy  was  set  up  in  its  place. 
'  Before  we  go  further  we  must  follow  the  king  back 
to  his  duchy  in  the  spring  after  that  first  winter  in 
England.  Three  Englishmen  were  chosen  to  attend 
his  royal  highness,  and  although  they  might  easily 
guess  that  there  was  something  more  than  mere 
compliment  in  this  flattering  invitation,  these 
northern  earls,  Eadwine,  Morkere,  and  Waltheof 
(the  Bear's  great-grandson),  were  not  anxious  to 
hurry  forward  the  open  quarrel  which  William  him- 
self was  anxious  to  avoid.  Nothing  could  have  been 
more  unsafe  in  the  unsettled  condition  of  England 
than  to  have  left  these  unruly  leaders  to  plot  and 
connive  during  his  absence  ;  besides,  it  would  be  a 
good  thing  to  show  such  rough  islanders  the  splen- 
dours of  the  Norman  court. 

The  Norman  chroniclers  are  not  often  willing  to 
admit  that  England  was  in  any  respect  equal  to 
their  own  duchy,  but  when  they  have  to  describe 
William's  triumphant  return,  they  forget  their  pru- 
dence and  give  glowing  accounts  of  the  treasure  of 
gold  and  silver  that  he  brings  with  him,  and  even 
the    magnificent  embroideries,  tapestries  and  hang- 


WILLIAM  THE    CONQUEROR.  321 

ings,  and  clerical  vestments, — though  they  have  so 
lately  tried  to  impress  upon  their  readers  that  heath- 
en squalor  of  social  life  across  the  Channel  which 
the  Christian  had  sought  to  remedy.  Church  after 
church  was  richly  endowed  with  these  spoils,  and 
the  Conqueror's  own  Church  of  St.  Stephen  at  Caen 
fared  best  of  all.  Beside  the  English  wealth  we 
must  not  forget  the  goods  of  Harold  Hardrada, 
which  had  been  brought  with  such  mistaken  confi- 
dence for  the  plenishing  of  his  desired  kingdom. 
There  is  a  tradition  of  a  mighty  ingot  of  gold  won* 
in  his  Eastern  adventures,  so  great  that  twelve 
strong  youths  could  scarcely  carry  it.  Eadwine  and 
Morkere  of  Northumberland  must  have  looked  at 
that  with  regretful  eyes. 

Whatever  the  English  prejudice  might  have 
been,  the  Normans  had  every  reason  to  be  proud 
of  their  seventh  duke.  He  had  advanced  their  for- 
tunes in  most  amazing  fashion,  and  they  were  proud 
of  him  indeed  on  the  day  when  he  again  set  his 
foot  on  Norman  ground.  The  time  of  year  was 
Lent.  Spring  was  not  yet  come,  but  it  might  have 
been  a  summer  festival,  if  one  judged  by  the  way 
that  the  people  crowded  from  the  farthest  boundaries 
of  the  country  to  the  towns  through  which  Williajn 
was  to  pass.  It  was  like  the  glorious  holidays  of 
the  Roman  Empire.  The  grateful  peasants  fought 
and  pushed  for  a  sight  of  their  leader.  The  world  is 
never  slow  to  do  honor  to  its  great  soldiers  and  con- 
querors. The  duke  met  his  wife  at  Rouen,  and  that 
was  the  best  moment  of  all  ;  Matilda  had  ruled 
Normandy  wisely  and  ably  during  his   five   or  six 


322  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

months'  absence,  with  old  Roger  de  Beaumont  for 
her  chief  counsellor. 

The  royal  procession  trailed  its  gorgeous  length 
from  church  to  church  and  from  city  to  city  about 
the  duchy ;  the  spoils  of  England  seemed  inex- 
haustible to  the  wondering  spectators,  and  those  who 
had  made  excuse  to  lag  behind  when  their  bows  and 
lances  were  needed,  were  ready  enough  now  to  clutch 
their  hands  greedily  in  their  empty  pockets  and  fol- 
low their  valiant  countrymen,  William  himself  was 
not  slow  in  letting  the  value  of  his  new  domain  be 
known  ;  the  more  men  the  better  in  that  England 
which  might  be  a  slippery  prize  to  hold.  He  had 
many  a  secret  conference  with  Lanfranc,  who  had 
been  chief  adviser  and  upholder  of  the  invasion. 
The  priest-statesman  seems  almost  a  greater  man 
than  the  soldier-statesman  ;  many  a  famous  deed  of 
that  age  was  Lanfranc's  suggestion,  but  nobody 
knew  better  than  these  two  that  the  conquest  of 
England  was  hardly  more  than  begun,  and  long  and 
deep  their  councils  must  have  been  when  the  noise 
of  shouting  in  the  streets  had  ended,  and  the  stars 
were  shining  above  Caen. 

No  city  of  Normandy  seems  more  closely  con- 
nected with  those  days  than  Caen.  As  one  walks 
along  its  streets,  beneath  the  high  church  towers  and 
gabled  roofs  of  the  houses,  it  is  easy  to  fancy  that 
more  famous  elder  generation  of  Normans  alive 
again,  to  people  Caen  with  knights  and  priests  and 
minstrels  of  that  earlier  day.  The  Duchess  Matilda 
might  be  alive  yet  and  busy  with  her  abbey  church 
of  Holy  Trinity  and  her  favorite  household  of  nuns ; 


WILLIAM  THE    CONQUEROR.  323 

the  people  shout  her  praises  admiringly,  and  gaze  at 
her  lovingly  as  she  passes  through  the  street  with 
her  troop  of  attendants.  Caen  is  prosperous  and  gay. 
"  Large,  strong,  full  of  draperies  and  all  sorts  of 
merchandise  ;  rich  citizens,  noble  dames,  damsels, 
and  fine  churches,"  says  Froissart  years  afterwards. 
Even  this  very  year  one  is  tempted  to  believe  that 
one  sees  the  same  fields  and  gardens,  the  same 
houses,  and  hears  the  same  bells  that  William  the 
Conqueror  saw  and  heard  in  that  summer  after  he 
had  become  king  of  England. 

And  in  Bayeux,  too,  great  portions  of  the  ancient 
city  still  remain.  There  where  the  Northmen  made 
their  chief  habitation,  or  in  Rouen  or  Falaise,  we  can 
almost  make  history  come  to  life.  -Perhaps  the  great 
tapestry  was  begun  that  very  summer  in  Bayeux  ; 
perhaps  the  company  of  English  guests,  some  of 
those  noble  dames  well-skilled  in  "  English  work" 
of  crewel  and  canvas,  were  enticed  by  Bishop  Odo 
into  beginning  that  "document  in  worsted"  which 
more  than  any  thing  else  has  preserved  the  true  his- 
tory of  the  Conquest  of  England.  Odo  meant  to 
adorn  his  new  church  with  it,  and  to  preserve  the 
account  of  his  own  part  in  the  great  battle  and  its 
preliminaries,  with  the  story  of  Harold's  oath  and 
disloyalty,  and  William's  right  to  the  crown.  There 
is  an  Italian  fashion  of  drawing  in  it — the  figures  are 
hardly  like  Englishmen  or  Normans  in  the  way  they 
stand  or  make  gestures  to  each  other  in  the  rude 
pictures.  Later  history  has  associated  the  working 
of  these  more  than  fifteen  hundred  figures  with 
Matilda  and  her  maidens,  as  a  tribute  to  the  Con- 


324  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

queror's  valor,  but  there  are  many  evidences  to  the 
contrary.  The  old  idea  that  the  duchess  and  her 
women  worked  at  the  tapestry,  and  said  their 
prayers  while  the  army  had  gone  to  England,  seems 
improbable  the  more  one  studies  the  work  itself. 
Yet  tradition  sometimes  keeps  the  grain  of  truth  in 
its  accumulation  of  chaff.  There  is  no  early  record 
of  it,  and  its  historical  value  was  rediscovered  only 
in  1724  by  a  French  antiquary.  The  bright  worsteds 
of  it  still  keep  their  colors  on  the  twenty-inches  wide 
strip  of  linen,  more  than  two  hundred  feet  in  length. 
Odo  is  said  to  have  given  it  to  his  chapter  at 
Bayeux,  and  it  has  suffered  astonishingly  little  from 
the  ravages  of  time. 

But  we  must  return  to  Norman  afTairs  in  England. 
Odo  himself  and  William  Fitz-Osbern  had  been 
made  earls  of  the  Counties  Palatine  of  Kent  and 
Hereford,  and  were  put  in  command  in  William's 
absence.  The  rapacity  of  these  Norman  gentlemen 
was  more  than  their  new  subjects  could  bear.  The 
bishop  at  least  is  pretty  certain  to  have  covered  his 
own  greedy  injustice  by  a  plea  that  he  was  following 
out  the  king's  orders.  Revolt  after  revolt  troubled 
the  peace  of  England.  Harold's  two  sons  were 
ready  to  make  war  from  their  vantage-ground  in 
Ireland  ;  the  Danes  and  Scots  were  also  conspiring 
against  the  new  lord  of  the  English.  At  last  some 
of  the  Normans  themselves  were  traitorous  and 
troublesome,  but  William  was  fully  equal  to  such 
minor  emergencies  as  these.  He  went  back  to  Eng- 
land late  in  1067,  after  spending  the  summer  and 
autumn  in  Normandy,  and  soon  found  himself  busy 


WILLIAM  THE   CONQUEROR. 


325 


enough  in  the  snarl  of  revolt  and  disagreement.  One 
trouble  followed  another  as  the  winter  wore  away, 
The  siege  of  Exeter  was  the  most  conspicuous  event, 
but  here  too  William  was  conqueror,  and  South- 
western England  was  forced  to  submit  to  his  rule. 
At  Easter-tide  a  stately  embassy  was  sent  to  bring 
over  the  Duchess  Matilda  from  Normandy,  and  when 
it  returned  she  was  hallowed  as  Queen  by  Ealdred 


DEATH  OF  HAROLD.   BAYEUX  TAPESTRY. 

the  archbishop.  Let  us  hope  that,  surrounded  by 
her  own  kindred  and  people,  she  did  not  see  the  sor- 
rowful English  faces  of  those  women  who  had  lost 
husband  and  home  together,  and  who  had  been  bereft 
of  all  their  treasures  that  strangers  might  be  enriched. 
There  is  a  curious  tradition  that  a  little  while  after 
this,  much  woe  was  wrought  because  those  other  Nor- 
man ladies,  whose  lords  had  come  over  to  England  to 


326 


THE   STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 


fight  and  remained  to  plunder,  refused  to  join  them, 
because  they  were  not  fond  of  the  sea,  and  thought 
that  they  were  not  hkely  to  find  better  fare  and 
lodging.     Very  likely   the  queen's  residence  in  her 

new  possessions  had 
a  good  effect,  but 
some  of  the  Norman 
men  were  obliged  to 
return  altogether, 
their  wives  having 
threatened  to  find 
new  partners  if  they 
were  left  alone  any 
longer.  It  may  have 
been  an  excuse  or  a 
jest,  because  so  many 
naturally  desired  tc 
see  their  own  coun- 
try again. 

Both  Saxons  and 
Normans  paid  great 
deference  to  the  in- 
stinctive opinions  of 
women.  When  such 
serious  matters  as  go- 
ing to  war  were  before 
them,  a  woman's  unreasoning  prejudice  or  favor  of 
the  enterprise  was  often  taken  into  account.  They 
seem  to  have  almost  taken  the  place  of  the  ancient 
auguries  !  However,  it  is  not  pleasant  to  feminine 
conceit  to  be  told  directly  that  great  respect  wasalso 
paid  to  tile  neighing  of  horses  ! 


NORMAN  LADY.       COTTON  MSS. 


WILLIAM  THE   CONQUEROR.  327 

Henry,  the  king's  youngest  son,  was  born  not 
long  after  the  queen's  arrival,  and  born  too  in 
Northern  England  the  latest  and  hardest  won  at  that 
time  of  the  out-lying  provinces.  The  very  name  that 
was  given  to  the  child  shows  adesire  for  some  degree 
of  identification  with  new  interests.  William  and 
Matilda  certainly  had  England's  welfare  at  heart,  for 
England's  welfare  was  directly  or  indirectly  their  own, 
and  this  name  was  a  sign  of  recognition  of  the  here- 
ditary alliance  with  Germany  ;  with  the  reigning  king 
and  his  more  famous  father.  There  is  nothing  more 
striking  than  the  traditional  slander  and  prejudice 
which  history  preserves  from  age  to  age.  Seen  by 
clearer  light,  many  reported  injustices  are  explained 
away.  If  there  was  in  England  then,  anything  like  the 
present  difficulty  of  influencing  public  opinion  to  quick 
foresight  and  new  decisions,  the  Conqueror  and  Bald- 
win of  Flanders'  daughter  had  any  thing  but  an  easy 
path  to  tread.  Selfish  they  both  may  have  been,  and 
bigoted  and  even  cruel,  but  they  represented  a  better 
degree  of  social  refinement  and  education  and  enlight- 
enment. Progress  was  really  what  the  English  of 
that  day  bewailed  and  set  their  faces  against,  though 
they  did  not  know  it.  William  and  Matilda  had  to 
insist  upon  the  putting  aside  of  worn-out  opinions, 
and  on  coming  to  England  had  made  the  strange 
discovery  that  they. must  either  take  a  long  step 
backward  or  force  their  subjects  forward.  They 
were  not  conscious  reformers  ;  they  were  not  in- 
fallibly wise  missionaries  of  new  truth,  who  tried  ac- 
tually to  give  these  belated  souls  a  wider  outlook 
upon  life,  but  let  us  stop  to  recognize  the  fact  that  no 


328  THE  STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

task  is  more  thankless  than  his  who  is  trying  to  go  in 
advance  of  his  time.  Men  have  been  burnt  and  hanged 
and  disgraced  and  sneered  at  for  no  greater  crime ;  in 
fact,  there  is  nothing  that  average  humanity  so  much 
resents  as  the  power  to  look  ahead  and  to  warn  others 
of  pitfalls  into  which  ignorant  shortsightedness  is 
Hkely  to  tumble.  Nothing  has  been  so  resented  and 
assailed  as  the  thorough  survey  of  England,  and  the 
record  of  its  lands  and  resources  in  the  Domesday 
Book.  Yet  nothing  was  so  necessary  for  any  sort  of 
good  government  and  steady  oversight  of  the  na- 
tion's affairs.  We  only  wonder  now  that  it  was  not 
made  sooner.  The  machinery  of  government  was  of 
necessity  much  ruder  then.  No  doubt  William's  tyr- 
anny swept  its  course  to  and  fro  like  some  Jugger- 
naut car  regardless  of  its  victims,  5'et  for  England  a 
unified  and  concentrated  force  of  government  was 
the  one  thing  to  be  insisted  upon  ;  Harold  and  his 
rival  earls  might  have  been  hindering,  inefTectual 
rulers  of  the  country's  divided  strength  and  jealous 
partisanship. 

Yet  the  future  right  direction  and  prosperity  of 
England  was  poor  consolation  to  the  aching  hearts 
of  the  women  of  that  time,  or  the  landless  lords  who 
had  to  stand  by  and  see  new  masters  of  the  soil  take 
their  places.  What  was  won  by  William's  sword 
must  be  held  by  his  sword,  and  the  more  sullen  and 
rebellious  the  English  grew,  the  more  heavily  they 
were  taxed  and  the  faster  the  land  was  rid  of  them. 
They  were  chased  into  the  fens,  and  pursued  with 
fire  and  bloodshed.  "  England  was  made  a  great 
grave,"  says  Dickens,  "  and  men  and  beasts  lay  dead 


WILLIAM  THE    CONQUEROR. 


329 


together,"  The  immediate  result  of  the  Conqueror's 
rule  was  like  fire  and  plough  and  harrow  in  a  piece 
of  new  land. 

It  was  a  sad  and  tiresome  lifetime,  that  of  the 
Conqueror ;  just  or  unjust  toward  his  new  sub- 
jects, they  hated  him  bitterly  ;  his  far-sighted  plans 
for  the  country's  growth  and  development  gave  as 


BATTLE  AXES.   BAYEUX  TAPESTRY. 


much  displeasure  as  the  smallest  of  his  personal 
prejudices  or  selfish  whims.  Every  man's  hand  was 
against  him,  and  hardly  an  eye  but  flashed  angrily  at 
the  sight  of  the  king.  Eadward  the  Confessor,  pious 
ascetic,  and  relic-worshipper,  had  loved  the  chase  as 
well  as  this  warlike  successor  of  his  ever  loved  it, 
and    had    been    very   careful   of   his   royal  hunting- 


330  THE  STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

grounds,  but  nobody  raised  an  outcry  against  his  un- 
saintly  love  of  slaughtering  defenceless  wild  crea- 
tures, or  thought  him  the  less  a  meek  and  gentle 
soul,  beloved  by  angels  and  taught  by  them  in 
visions.  But  ever  since,  the  Conqueror's  love  of 
hunting  has  been  an  accusation  against  him  as  if  he 
were  the  only  man  guilty  of  it,  and  his  confiscation 
of  the  Hampshire  lands  to  make  new  forest  seemed 
the  last  stroke  that  could  be  borne.  The  peasants' 
cottages  were  swept  avv'ay  and  the  land  laid  waste. 
Norman  was  master  and  Englishman  was  servant. 
The  royal  train  of  horses  and  dogs  and  merry  hunts- 
men in  gay  apparel  clattered  through  the  wood,  and 
from  hiding-places  under  the  fern  men  watched  them 
and  muttered  curses  upon  their  cruel  heads.  There 
were  already  sixty-eight  royal  forests  in  different 
parts  of  the  kingdom  before  New  Forest  was  begun. 
Everybody  thought  that  England  had  never  seen 
such  dark  days,  but  so  everybody  thought  when  the 
Angles  and  Saxons  and  Jutes  came,  and  even  so 
vigorous  a  pruning  and  digging  at  the  roots  as  this 
made  England  grow  the  better. 

Large  tracts  of  the  hunting-grounds  had  been  un- 
fit for  human  habitation,  and  it  was  better  to  leave 
them  to  the  hares  and  deer.  Wide  regions  of  the 
country,  too,  were  occupied  by  the  lowest  class  of 
humanity,  who  lived  almost  in  beastly  fashion,  with- 
out chance  of  enlightenment  or  uplifting.  They 
were  outlaws  of  the  worst  sort  who  could  not  be 
brought  into  decent  order  or  relationship  with  re- 
spectable society,  and  it  was  better  for  these  to  be 
chased  from  their  lairs  and  forced  to  accept  the  com- 


WILLI  A  AT  THE   CONQUEROR.  33 1 

panionship  of  townsfolk.  With  these,  however,  there 
were  many  who  suffered  undeserved.  Among  the 
rank  weeds  of  England  there  were  plucked  many 
blooming  things  and  useful  growths  of  simple,  long- 
established  home-life  and  domestic  affection.  When 
fire  was  leaping  high  at  the  city  gates  it  is  impossible 
not  to  regret  its  enmity  against  dear  and  noble 
structures  of  the  past,  even  though  it  cleared  the 
way  for  loftier  minsters  and  fairer  dwelling-places. 
In  criticising  and  resenting  such  a  reign  as  William 
the  Norman's  over  England,  we  must  avoid  a  danger 
of  not  seeing  the  hand  of  God  in  it,  and  the  evi- 
dences of  an  overruling  Providence,  which  works  in 
and  through  the  works  of  men  and  sees  the  end  of 
things  from  the  beginning  as  men  cannot.  There 
may  be  overstatement  in  William  of  Malmesbury's 
account  of  the  bad  condition  of  the  country  at  the 
time  of  the  Conquest,  but  the  outlines  of  it  cannot 
be  far  from  right.  "In  process  of  time,"  he  says, 
"  the  desire  after  literature  and  religion  had  decayed 
for  several  years  before  the  arrival  of  the  Normans. 
The  clergy,  contented  with  a  very  slight  degree  of 
learning,  could  scarcely  stammer  out  the  words  of 
the  sacraments,  and  a  person  who  understood  gram- 
mar was  an  object  of  wonder  and  astonishment.  The 
nobility  were  given  up  to  luxury  and  wantonness. 
The  commonalty,  left  unprotected,  became  a  prey 
to  the  most  powerful,  who  amassed  fortunes  by  either 
seizing  on  their  property  or  selling  their  persons  into 
foreign  countries  ;  although  it  be  an  innate  quality 
of  this  people  to  be  more  inclined  to  revelling  than 
to  the  accumulation  of  wealth.      Drinking  was  a  uni- 


332  THE   STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

versal  practice,  in  which  they  passed  whole  nights,  as 
well  as  days.  They  consumed  their  whole  substance 
in  mean,  despicable  houses,  unlike  Normans  and 
French,  who,  in  noble  and  splendid  mansions,  lived 
with  frugality."  "  There  cannot  be  a  doubt,"  says 
Mr.  Bruce  in  his  interesting  book  about  the  Bayeux 
tapestry,  "  that  by  the  introduction  of  the  refine- 
ments of  life  the  condition  of  the  people  was  im- 
proved, and  that  a  check  was  given  to  the  grosser 
sensualities  of  our  nature.  Certain  it  is  that  learning 
received  a  powerful  stimulus  by  the  Conquest.  At 
the  period  of  the  Norman  invasion  a  great  intellectual 
movement  had  commenced  in  the  schools  on  the 
Continent.  Normandy  had  beyond  most  other  parts 
profited  by  it.  William  brought  with  him  to  Eng- 
land some  of  the  most  distinguished  ornaments  of 
the  school  of  his  native  duchy  ;  the  consequence  of 
this  was  that  England  henceforward  took  a  higher 
walk  in  literature  than  she  had  ever  done  before." 
One  great  step  was  the  freeing  of  the  lower  classes; 
there  was  one  rank  of  serfs,  the  churls,  who  were  at- 
tached to  the  land,  and  were  transferred  with  it, 
without  any  power  of  choosing  their  employer  or 
taking  any  steps  to  improve  their  condition.  Another 
large  class,  the  thews,  were  the  absolute  property  of 
their  owners.  William's  law  that  every  slave  who 
had  lived  unchallenged  a  year  and  a  day  in  any  city 
or  walled  town  in  the  kingdom  should  be  free  for- 
ever, was,  indeed,  "a  door  of  hope  to  many,"  besides 
the  actual  good  effects  of  town  life,  the  natural 
rivalry  and  promotion  of  knowledge,  the  stimulus 
given    to   the  cultivation   and    refinements  of   social 


WILLIAM  THE   CONQUEROR.  333 

life.  He  protected  the  early  growth  of  a  pubHc 
sentiment,  which  was  finally  strong  enough  to  ven- 
ture to  assert  its  rights  and  to  claim  recognition. 
He  relentlessly  overthrew  the  flourishing  slave-trade 
of  the  town  of  Bristol  and  no  doubt  made  many 
enemies  by  such  an  act. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  king's  better  nature 
and  earlier  purposes  in  regard  to  his  kingdom  and 
duchy,  as  he  grew  older  one  finds  his  reputation 
growing  steadily  worse.  He  must  have  found  the 
ruling  of  men  a  thankless  task,  and  he  apparently 
cared  less  and  less  to  soften  or  control  the  harsh- 
ness of  his  underrulers  and  of^cers.  His  domestic 
relations  had  always  been  a  bright  spot  in  his  stern, 
hard  life,  but  at  length  even  his  beloved  wife  Matilda 
no  longer  held  him  first,  and  grieved  him  by  favoring 
their  troublesome  son  Robert,  who  was  her  darling 
of  all  their  children.  Robert  and  his  mother  had  been 
the  nominal  governors  of  Normandy  when  he  was 
still  a  child  and  his  father  was  away  in  England. 
They  seem  to  have  been  in  league  ever  afterward, 
for  when  Robert  grew  up  he  demanded  Normandy 
outright,  which  made  his  father  angry,  and  the  instant 
refusal  provoked  Master  Curt-hose  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  went  about  from  court  to  court  in  Europe 
bewailing  the  injustice  that  had  been  shown  him. 
He  was  very  fond  of  music  and  dancing,  and  spent  a 
great  deal  of  money,  which  the  queen  appears  to 
have  been  always  ready  to  send  him.  He  was  gifted 
with  a  power  of  making  people  fond  of  him,  though 
he  was  not  good  for  very  much  else. 

After  a  while  William  discovered  that  there  was  a 


334  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

secret  messenger  who  carried  forbidden  supplies  to 
the.  rebellious  prince,  and  the  messenger  happily  had 
time  to  betake  himself  to  a  convenient  convent  and 
put  on  the  dress  and  give,  let  us  hope,  heart-felt 
vows  of  monkhood.  This  is  what  Orderic  Vitalis 
reports  of  a  meeting  between  the  king  and  queen : 
"  Who  in  the  world,"  sighs  the  king,  "  can  expect  to 
find  a  faithful  and  devoted  wife  ?  The  woman  whom 
I  loved  in  my  soul,  and  to  whom  I  entrusted  my 
kingdom  and  my  treasures,  supports  my  enemies; 
she  enriches  them  with  my  property ;  she  secretly 
arms  them  against  my  honor — perhaps  my  life." 
And  Matilda  answered  :  "  Do  not  be  surprised,  I 
pray  you,  because  I  love  my  eldest  born.  Were 
Robert  dead  and  seven  feet  below  the  sod,  and  my 
blood  could  raise  him  to  life,  it  should  surely  flow. 
How  can  I  take  pleasure  in  luxury  when  my  son  is 
in  want?  Far  from  my  heart  be  such  hardness! 
Your  power  cannot  deaden  the  love  of  a  mother's 
heart."  The  king  did  not  punish  the  queen,  we  are 
assured  gravely ;  and  Robert  quarrelled  with  his 
brothers,  and  defied  his  father,  and  won  his  mother's 
sympathy  and  forbearance  to  the  end.  He  found 
the  king  of  France  ready  to  uphold  his  cause  by 
reason  of  the  old  jealousy  of  William's  power,  and 
while  he  was  ensconced  in  the  castle  of  Gerberoi, 
and  sallying  out  at  his  convenience  to  harry  the 
country,  William  marched  to  attack  him,  and  the 
father  and  son  fought  hand  to  hand  without  know- 
ing each  other  until  the  king  was  thrown  from  his 
horse.  Whereupon  Robert  professed  great  contri- 
tion, and   some  time  afterward,   the  barons  having 


IVILLIAM  THE   CONQUEROR.  335 

Interceded  and  Matilda  having  prayed  and  wept, 
William  consented  to  a  reconciliation,  and  even 
made  his  son  his  lieutenant  over  Normandy  and 
Brittany. 

In  1083  the  queen  died,  and  there  was  nobody  to 
lift  a  voice  against  her  prudence  and  rare  virtue,  or 
her  simple  piety.  There  was  no  better  woman  in  any 
convent  cell  of  Normandy,  than  the  woman  who  had 
borne  the  heavy  weight  of  the  Norman  crown,  and 
who  had  finished  the  sor- 
ry task  as  best  she  could, 
of  reigning  over  an  alien, 
conquered  people.  The 
king's  sorrow  was  piteous 
to  behold,  and  not  long 
afterward  their  second 
son,  Richard, was  killed  in 
the  New  Forest,  a  place 
of  misfortune  to  the  royal 
household.  Another 
trouble  quickly  followed,  ^ 
which  not  only  hurt  the  — ■' 
king's  feelings,  but  made  "r^"" 
him  desperately  angry. 

iir-ii-  1-      J   L  ODO,  BISHOP   OF   BAYEUX. 

William  had  been  very 
kind  to  all  his  kinsfolk  on  his  mother's  side,  and 
especially  to  his  half-brother,  Odo,  the  Bishop  of 
Bayeux.  He  had  loaded  him  with  honors,  and 
given  him^  long  ago,  vice-regal  authority  in  England. 
Even  this  was  not  enough  for  such  an  aspiring  ec- 
clesiastic, and,  under  the  pretence  of  gathering  tax- 
money   (no    doubt    insisting    that    it    was   to    serve 


33^  THE  STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

the  miserliness  and  greed  of  the  king),  he  carried 
on  a  flourishing  system  of  plundering.  After  a 
while  it  was  discovered  that  he  had  an  ambition 
to  make  himself  Pope  of  Rome,  and  was  using 
his  money  for  bribing  cardinals  and  ingratiating 
himself  with  the  Italian  nobles.  He  bought  himself 
a  palace  in  Rome  and  furnished  it  magnificently, 
and  began  to  fit  out  a  fleet  of  treasure-ships  at  the 
Isle  of  Wight.  One  day  when  they  were  nearly 
ready  to  set  sail,  and  the  disloyal  gentlemen  who 
were  also  bound  on  this  adventure  were  collected 
into  a  comfortable  group  on  shore,  who  should  appear 
among  them  but  William  himself.  The  king  sternly 
related  what  must  have  been  a  familiar  series  of  cir- 
cumstances to  his  audience :  Odo's  disloyalty  when 
he  had  been  entirely  trusted,  his  oppression  of  Eng- 
land, his  despoiling  of  the  churches  and  the  confisca- 
tion of  their  lands  and  treasures,  lastly  that  he  had 
even  won  away  these  knights  to  go  to  Rome  with 
him  ;  men  who  were  sworn  to  repulse  the  enemies 
of  the  kingdom. 

After  Odo's  sins  were  related  in  detail,  he  was 
seized,  but  loudly  lamented  thereat,  declaring  that 
he  was  a  clerk  and  a  minister  of  the  Most  High,  and 
that  no  bishop  could  be  condemned  without  the 
judgment  of  the  Pope.  The  people  who  stood  by 
murmured  anxiously,  for  nobody  knew  what  might 
be  going  to  happen  to  them  also.  Crafty  William 
answered  that  he  was  seizing  neither  clerk,  nor  prel- 
ate, nor  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  only  his  Earl  of  Kent, 
his  temporal  lieutenant,  who  must  account  to  him 
for  such  bad  vice-regal  administration,  and  for  four 


WILLIAM  THE   CONQUEROR.  337 

years  after  that  Odo  was  obliged  to  content  himself 
with  close  imprisonment  in  the  old  tower  of  Rouen. 

Those  four  years  were  in  fact  all  that  remained  of 
the  Conqueror's  earthly  lifetime,  and  dreary  years 
they  were.  In  1087  William  returned  to  Normandy 
for  the  last  time.  The  French  king  was  making 
trouble  ;  some  say  that  the  quarrel  began  between 
the  younger  members  of  the  family,  others  that 
Philip  demanded  that  William  should  do  homage  for 
England.  Ordericus  Vitalis,  the  most  truthful  of 
the  Norman  historians,  declares  that  the  dispute  was 
about  the  proprietorship  of  the  French  districts  of 
the  Vexin. 

The  Conqueror  was  an  old  man  now,  older  than 
his  years  ;  he  had  never  quite  recovered  from  his 
fall  when  Robert  unhorsed  him  at  the  castle  of 
Gerberoi ;  besides  he  had  suffered  from  other  illness, 
and  had  grown  very  stout,  and  the  doctors  at  Rouen 
were  taking  him  in  charge.  The  king  of  France 
joked  insolently  about  his  illness,  and  at  the  end  of 
July  William  started  furiously  on  his  last  campaign, 
and  no  doubt  took  vast  pleasure  in  burning  the  city 
of  Mantes.  When  the  fire  was  down  he  rode  through 
the  conquered  town,  his  horse  stepped  among 
some  smouldering  firebrands  and  reared,  throw- 
ing his  clumsy  rider  suddenly  forward  against  the 
high  pommel  of  the  saddle,  a  death-blow  from 
which  he  was  never  to  recover.  He  was  carried 
back  to  Rouen  a  worse  case  for  the  doctors'  skill 
than  ever,  and  presently  fever  set  in,  and  torture  fol- 
lowed torture  for  six  long  weeks.  The  burning  fever, 
the  midsummer  heat,  the  flattery  or  neglect  of  his 


338  THE    STORY    OF  THE   NORMANS. 

paid  attendants;  how  they  all  reminded  him  and 
made  him  confess  at  last  his  new  understanding  and 
sorrow  for  the  misery  he  had  caused  to  many  another 
human  being  !  Yet  we  can  but  listen  forgivingly  as 
he  says  :  "  At  the  time  my  father  went  of  his  own 
will  into  exile,  leaving  to  me  the  Duchy  of  Nor- 
mandy, I  was  a  mere  child  of  eight  years,  and  from 
that  day  to  this  I  have  always  borne  the  weight 
of  arms." 

The  three  sons,  Rufus  William,  Robert  Curt-hose, 
and  Henry  Beauclerc,  were  all  eager  to  claim  their 
inheritance,  but  the  king  sends  for  Anselm,  the  holy 
abbot,  and  puts  them  aside  while  he  makes  confes- 
sion of  his  sins  and  bravely  meets  the  prospect 
of  speedy  death.  He  gives  directions  concerning  the 
affairs  of  England  and  Normandy,  gives  money  and 
treasure  to  poor  people  and  the  churches  ;  he  even 
says  that  he  wishes  to  rebuild  the  churches  which 
were  so  lately  burnt  at  Mante's.  Then  he  summons 
his  sons  to  his  bedside  and  directs  those  barons  and 
knights  who  were  present  to  be  seated,  when,  if  we 
may  believe  Ordericus  the  Chronicler,  the  Conqueror 
made  an  eloquent  address,  reviewing  his  life  and 
achievements  and  the  career  of  many  of  his  com- 
panions. The  chronicle  writers  had  a  habit  of 
putting  extremely  pious  and  proper  long  speeches 
into  the  mouths  of  dying  kings,  and  as  we  read 
these  remarks  in  particular  we  cannot  help  a  suspi- 
cion that  the  old  monk  sat  down  in  his  cell  some 
time  afterward  and  quietly  composed  a  systematic 
summary  of  what  William  would  have  said,  or  ought 
to  have  said  if  he  could.     Yet  we  may  believe  in  the 


WILLIAM  THE    CONQUEROR.  339 

truth  of  many  sentences.  We  do  not  care  for  what  he 
expressed  concerning  Mauger  or  King  Henr\-,  the 
battle  of  Mortemer  or  Vales-dunes,  but  when  he 
speaks  of  his  loyalty  to  the  Church  and  his  friendship 
with  Lanfranc,  and  Gerbert,  and  Anselm,  of  his 
having  built  seventeen  monasteries  and  six  nun- 
neries, "  spiritual  fortresses  in  which  mortals  learn 
to  combat  the  demons  and  lusts  of  the  flesh " ; 
when  he  tells  his  sons  to  attach  themselves  to  men 
of  worth  and  wisdom  and  to  follow  their  advice,  to 
follow  justice  in  all  things  and  spare  no  effort  to 
avoid  wickedness,  to  assist  the  poor,  infirm,  and 
honest,  to  curb  and  punish  the  proud  and  selfish,  to 
prevent  them  from  injuring  their  neighbors,  devoutly 
to  attend  holy  church,  to  prefer  the  worship  of  God 
to  worldly  wealth  ; — when  he  says  these  things  we 
listen,  and  believe  that  he  was  truly  sorry  at  last  for 
the  starving  homeless  Englishmen  who  owed  him 
their  death,  for  even  the  bitter  resentment  he 
showed  for  the  slaughter  of  a  thousand  of  his  brave 
knights  within  the  walls  of  Durham.  He  dares  not 
give  the  ill-gotten  kingdom  of  England  to  anybody 
save  to  God,  but  if  it  be  God's  will  he  hopes  that 
William  Rufus  ma}'  be  his  successor.  Robert  may 
rule  Normandy.  Henry  may  take  five  thousand 
pounds'  weight  of  silver  from  the  treasury.  It  is 
true  that  he  has  no  land  to  dwell  in,  but  let  him  rest 
in  patience  and  be  willing  that  his  brothers  should 
precede  him.  By  and  by  he  will  be  heir  of  every- 
thing. 

At  last  the  king  unwillingly  gives  permission  for 
Odo's  release  along  with   other    prisoners  of   state. 


340  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMAN- 

He  prophesies  that  Odo  will  again  disturb  the  peace 
and  cause  the  death  of  thousands,  and  adds  that  the 
bishop  does  not  conduct  himself  with  that  chastity 
and  modesty  which  become  a  minister  of  God.  For 
a  last  act  of  clemency  he  gives  back  to  Baudri,  the 
son  of  Nicolas,  all  his  lands,  "  because  without  per- 
mission he  quitted  my  service  and  passed  over  into 
Spain.  I  now  restore  them  to  him  for  the  love 
of  God ;  I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  a  better 
knight  under  arms  than  he,  but  he  is  changeable  and 
prodigal,  and  fond  of  roving  into  foreign  countries." 

On  the  morning  of  the  eighth  of  September  the 
great  soul  took  its  flight.  The  king  was  lying  in  rest- 
less, half-breathless  sleep  or  stupor  when  the  cathe- 
dral bells  began  to  ring,  and  he  opened  his  eyes  and 
asked  what  time  it  was.  They  told  him  it  was  the 
hour  of  prime.  "  Then  he  called  upon  God  as  far 
as  his  strength  sufificed,  and  on  our  holy  lady,  the 
blessed  Mary,  and  so  departed  while  yet  speaking, 
without  any  loss  of  his  senses  or  change  of  speech." 

"  At  the  time  when  the  king  departed  this  world, 
many  of  his  servants  were  to  be  seen  running  up  and 
down,  some  going  in,  others  coming  out,  carrying  off 
the  rich  hangings  and  the  tapestr)^,  and  whatever 
they  could  lay  their  hands  upon.  A  whole  day 
passed  before  the  corpse  was  laid  upon  its  bier,  for 
they  who  were  wont  before  to  fear  him  now  left  him 
lying  alone.  But  when  the  news  spread  much  people 
gathered  together,  and  bishops  and  barons  came  in 
long  procession.  The  body  was  well  tended  and 
carried  to  Caen  as  he  had  before  commanded.  There 
was  no- bishop  in  the  province,  nor  abbot,  nor  noble 


WILLIAM  THE   CONQUEROR.  34I 

prince,  who  did  not  go  to  the  burying  if  he  could, 
and  there  were  besides  many  monks,  priests,  and 
clerks." 

So  writes  Master  Wace  in  his  long  rhyme  of  the 
Conquest ;  but  the  rhyme  does  not  end  as  befits  the 
Conqueror's  fame.  The  chanting  monks  had  hardly 
set  the  body  down  within  the  church,  at  the  end  of 
its  last  journey,  when  there  was  a  cry  of  fire  without, 
and  all  the  people  ran  away  and  left  the  church 
empty  save  for  the  few  monks  who  stayed  beside 
the  bier.  When  the  crowd  returned  the  service 
went  on  again,  but  just  as  the  grave  \vas  ready  a 
vavasour  named  Ascelin,  the  son  of  Arthur,  pushed 
his  way  among  the  bishops  and  barons,  and  mounted 
a  stone  to  make  himself  the  better  heard — "  Listen 
to  me,  ye  lords  and  clerks  !  "  he  cries  ;  "  ye  shall  not 
bury  William  in  this  spot.  This  church  of  St. 
Stephen  is  built  on  land  that  he  seized  from  me  and 
my  house.  By  force  he  took  it  from  me,  and  I  claim 
judgment.  I  appeal  to  him  by  name  that  he  do  me 
right." 

"  After  he  had  said  this  he  came  down.  Forth- 
with arose  great  clamor  in  the  church,  and  there 
was  such  tumult  that  no  one  could  hear  the  other 
speak.  Some  went,  others  came  ;  and  all  marvelled 
that  this  great  king,  who  had  conquered  so  much 
and  won  so  many  cities  and  so  many  castles,  could 
not  call  so  much  land  his  own  as  his  body  might  be 
covered  in  after  death." 

We  cannot  do  better  than  end  with  reading  the 
Saxon  chronicle,  which  is  less  likely  to  be  flattering 
than  the  Norman  records. 


342  THE   STORY  OF  THk    NORMANS. 

"  Alas,  how  false  and  unresting  is  this  earth's 
weal  I  He  that  erst  was  a  rich  king,  and  lord  of 
many  lands  ;  had  then  of  all  his  lands  but  sev^en  feet 
space  ;  and  he  that  was  once  clad  with  gold  and 
gems,  lay  overspread  with  mold  !  If  any  one  wish 
to  know  what  manner  of  man  he  was,  or  what  wor- 
ship he  had,  or  of  how  many  lands  he  was  the  lord, 
then  will  we  write  of  him  as  we  have  known  him  ; 
for  we  looked  on  him  and  somewhile  dwelt  in  his 
herd. 

"  This  King  William  that  we  speak  about  was  a 
very  wise  man  and  very  rich  ;  more  worshipped,  and 
stronger  than  any  of  his  foregangers  were.  He  was 
mild  to  the  good  men  that  loved  God,  and  beyond 
all  metes  stark  to  those  who  withsaid  his  will.  On 
that  same  ground  where  God  gave  him  that  he  should 
win  England,  he  reared  a  noble  minster  and  set 
monks  there  and  well  endowed  it. 

*'  Eke  he  was  very  worshipful.  Thrice  he  wore 
his  king-helm  (crown),  every  year  as  oft  as  he  was  in 
England.  At  Easter  he  wore  it  at  Winchester  ;  at 
Pentecost  at  Westminster ;  at  midwinter  at  Glou- 
cester, and  then  were  with  him  all  the  rich  men  over 
all  England  :  archbishops  and  diocesan  bishops  ;  ab- 
bots and  earls  ;  thanes  and  knights.  Truly  he  was 
so  stark  a  man  and  wroth  that  no  man  durst  do  any 
thing  against  his  will.  He  had  earls  in  his  bonds 
who  had  done  against  his  will.  Bishops  he  set  off 
their  bishoprics,  and  abbots  off  their  abbacies,  and 
thanes  in  prison.  And  at  last  he  did  not  spare  his 
brother  Odo  ;  him  he  set  in  prison.  Betwixt  other 
things  we  must  not  forget   the  good  peace  that  he 


WILLIAM  THE    CONQUEROR.  343 

made  in  this  land,  so  that  a  man  that  was  worth 
aught  might  travel  over  the  kingdom  unhurt  with 
his  bosom  full  of  gold.  And  no  man  durst  slay 
another  man  though  he  had  suffered  never  so  mickle 
evil  from  the  other. 

"  He  ruled  over  England,  and  by  his  cunning  he 
had  so  thoroughly  surveyed  it,  that  there  was  never 
a  hide  of  land  in  England  that  he  wist  not  both  who 
had  it  and  what  its  worth  was,  and  he  set  it  down  in 
his  writ.  Wales  was  under  his  weald,  and  therein 
he  wrought  castles  ;  and  he  wielded  Manncynn  with- 
al. Scotland  he  subdued  by  his  mickle  strength. 
Normandy  was  his  by  kin — and  over  the  earldom 
that  is  called  Mans  he  ruled.  And  if  he  might  have 
lived  yet  two  years  he  had  won  Ireland,  and  without 
any  armament. 

"  Truly  in  his  time  men  had  mickle  taxing  and  many 
hardships.  He  let  castles  be  built,  and  poor  men 
were  sorely  taxed.  The  king"  (we  might  in  justice 
read  oftener  the  king's  ofBcers) — "  The  king  was  so 
very  stark,  and  he  took  from  his  subjects  many 
marks  of  gold  and  many  hundred  pounds  of  silver, 
and  that  he  took  of  his  people  some  by  right  and 
.some  by  mickle  unright,  for  little  need.  He  was 
fallen  into  covetoiisness,  and  greediness  he  loved 
withal. 

"The  king  and  the  head  men  loved  much,  and  over 
much,  the  getting  in  of  gold  and  silver,  and-  recked 
not  how  sinfully  it  was  got  so  it  but  came  to 
them. 

"  He  set  many  deer-friths  and  he  made  laws  there- 
with, that  whosoever  should  slay  hart  or  hind,  him 


344  THE    STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

man  should  blind.  And  as  he  kept  to  himself  the 
slaying  of  the  harts,  so  eke  did  he  the  boars.  He 
loved  the  high  deer  as  much  as  if  he  were  their 
father.  Eke  he  set  as  to  the  hares  that  they  should 
go  free.  His  rich  men  bemoaned,  and  his  poor  men 
murmured,  but  he  recked  not  the  hatred  of  them  all, 
and  they  must  follow  the  king's  will  if  they  would 
have  lands  or  goods  or  his  favor. 

"  Wa-la-wa  !  that  any  man  should  be  so  moody,  so 
to  upheave  himself  and  think  himself  above  all  other 
men  !  May  God  Almighty  have  mild-heartedness 
on  his  soul  and  give  him  forgiveness  of  his  sins  ! 
These  things  we  have  written  of  him  both  good  and 
evil,  that  men  may  choose  the  good  after  their  good- 
ness, and  withal  flee  from  evil,  and  go  on  the  way 
that  leadeth  all  to  heaven's  kingdom. " 


XVII. 


KINGDOM   AND    DUKEDOM. 


"  Yes,  while  on  earth  a  thousand  discords  ring, 
Man's  senseless  uproar  mingling  with  his  toil. 
Still  do  thy  quiet  ministers  move  on. " 

— Matthew  Arnold. 


William  Rufus  hurried  away  to  claim  the  king- 
dom of  England  before  his  father  died.  Robert  was 
at  Abbeville,  some  say,  with  his  singers  and  jesters, 
making  merry  over  the  prospect  of  getting  the  duke- 
dom. Henry  had  put  his  five  thousand  pounds  of 
silver  into  a  strong  box  and  gone  his  ways  likewise. 
Normandy  was  in  the  confusion  that  always  befell  a 
country  in  those  days  while  one  master  had  put  ofT 
his  crown  and  the  next  had  not  put  it  on.  There 
were  masses  being  said  in  the  Norman  churches  for 
the  good  of  the  Conqueror's  soul,  and  presently,  as 
the  autumn  days  flew  by  and  grew  shorter  and 
shorter,  news  was  received  that  the  English  had 
received  William  Rufus  and  made  him  king  with 
great  rejoicing.  There  was  always  much  to  hope 
from  the  accession  of  a  new  monarch  ;  he  was  sure 
to  make  many  promises,  and  nobody  knew  that  he 
would  not  keep  every  one  of  them. 

But  neither  in  England  nor  Normandy  did  the 
345 


346  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

outlook  promise  great  security.  Robert  was  made 
duke,  and  Robert  had  plenty  of  friends,  whose  love 
and  favor  were  sure  to  last  as  long  as  his  money  held 
out.  He  had  a  better  heart  than  his  brothers,  but 
he  was  not  fit  for  a  governor.  "  Robert,  my  eldest- 
born,  shall  have  Normandy  and  Maine,"  the  Con- 
queror had  told  his  barons  on  his  death-bed.  "  He 
shall  serve  the  king  of  France  for  the  same.  There 
are  many  brave  men  in  Normandy  ;  I  know  none 
equal  to  them.  They  are  noble  and  valiant  knights, 
conquering  in  all  lands  whither  they  go.  If  they 
have  a  good  captain,  a  company  of  them  is  made  to 
be  dreaded,  but  if  they  have  not  a  lord  whom  they 
fear,  and  who  governs  them  severely,  the  service 
they  render  will  soon  be  but  poor.  The  Normans 
are  worth  little  without  strict  justice;  they  must  be 
bent  and  bowed  to  their  ruler's  will,  and  whoso  holds 
them  always  under  his  foot  and  curbs  them  tightly, 
may  get  his  business  well  done  by  them.  Haughty 
are  they  and  proud,  boastful  and  arrogant  ;  difificult 
to  govern,  and  needing  to  be  at  all  times  kept  under, 
so  that  Robert  will  have  much  to  do  and  to  provide 
in  order  to  manage  such  a  people." 

The  dying  king  may  have  smiled  grimly  at  the 
thought  that  Robert's  ambition  knew  not  what  it 
asked.  The  gay  gentleman  had  given  his  father 
trouble  enough,  but  the  weight  of  Normandy  should 
be  his  to  carry.  The  red  prince,  William,  had  been 
a  dutiful  son,  and  he  wished  him  joy  of  England 
He  was  order-loving,  and  had  a  head  for  governing. 
"  Poor  lads  !  "  the  old  father  may  have  sighed  more 
than   once.     It  was  all  very  well  to  be  princes  and 


KINGDOM  AND  DUKEDOM.  347 

knights  and  gay  riders  and  courtiers,  but  the  man 
who  has  a  kingdom  to  govern  must  wend  his  ways 
alone,  with  much  hindrance  and  httle  help. 

The  two  courts  bore  little  likeness  to  the  Con- 
queror's as  time  went  on,  and  there  was  endless  dis- 
sension among  the  knights.  In  England  the  Nor- 
mans complained  greatly  of  the  division  of  the 
kingdom  and  the  duchy.  Odo,  who  had  regained 
his  earldom  of  Kent,  was  full  of  mischievous,  treach- 
erous plans,  and  had  no  trouble  in  persuading  other 
men  that  they  stood  no  chance  of  holding  their 
lands  or  keeping  their  rights  under  Rufus ;  it 
would  be  much  better  to  overthrow  him  and  to  do 
homage  to  Robert  of  Normandy  in  the  old  fashion. 
Robert  was  careless  and  easy,  and  William  was 
strong  and  self-willed.  Robert  was  ready  to  favor 
this  party  at  once,  and  after  a  while  William  dis- 
covered what  was  going  on,  and  found  the  rebels 
under  Odo  were  fortifying  their  castles  and  winning 
troops  of  followers  to  their  side — in  fact,  England 
was  all  ready  for  civil  war.  The  king  besieged  Odo 
forthwith  in  the  city  of  Rochester,  and  there  was  a 
terrible  end  to  the  revolt.  Robert  had  been  too  lazy 
or  too  inefficient  to  keep  his  promise  of  coming  to 
the  aid  of  his  allies,  and  disease  broke  out  in  the  gar- 
rison and  raged  until  Odo  sent  messengers  to  ask 
forgiveness,  and  to  promise  all  manner  of  loyalty  and 
penitence.  The  king  was  in  a  state  of  fury,  and 
meant  to  hang  the  leaders  of  the  insurrection  and 
put  the  rest  to  death  by  the  most  ingenious  tortures 
that  could  be  invented.  At  last,  however,  his  own 
barons  and  officers  made  piteous  pleas  for  the  lives 


348  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

of  their  friends  and  relatives,  and  in  the  end  they 
were  driven  out  and  deprived  of  their  EngHsh 
estates,  and  Odo  was  altogether  banished  from  the 
country.  No  longer  an  earl,  he  went  back  much 
humbled  to  his  bishopric  of  Bayeux,  which  Robert 
had  been  foolish  enough  to  restore  to  him.  But  the 
intrigues  went  on.  The  Norman  barons  in  England 
were  separated  from  their  hereditary  possessions  in 
Normandy,  and  William  Rufus  owed  the  safety  of 
his  crown  to  the  upholding  of  the  English.  Presently 
he  went  over  to  Normandy,  where  things  were  get- 
ting worse  and  worse  under  Robert's  rule,  and  an- 
nounced his  intention  of  seizing  the  silly  duke's 
dominions.  Robert  had  already  sold  the  Cotentin 
to  Henry  for  a  part  of  the  five  thousand  pounds  in 
the  strong  box,  and  after  a  good  deal  of  dissension, 
and  a  prospect  of  a  long  and  bloody  war,  which  the 
nobles  on  both  sides  did  every  thing  they  could  to 
prevent,  the  brothers  made  up  their  quarrel.  They 
signed  an  agreement  that  the  one  who  outlived  the 
other  should  inherit  all  the  lands  and  wealth,  and 
then  they  made  a  league  to  go  and  fight  Henry 
Beauclerc,  who  was  living  peaceably  enough  on  his 
honestly-got  Cotentin  possessions.  They  chased  him 
out  of  the  country  to  the  French  Vexin,  where  he 
spent  a  forlorn  year  or  two  ;  but  he  could  afford  to 
wait  for  his  inheritance,  as  the  Conqueror  had  told 
him  long  before. 

William  Rufus  went  back  to  England,  and  in  the 
course  of  time  there  was  a  war  with  the  Scotch,  who 
were  defeated  again  and  again  and  finally  made 
quiet.     Then  the  Welsh  rebelled   in  their  turn  and 


KINGDOM  AND  DUKEDOM.  349 

were  much  harder  to  subdue.  Robert  got  the  king 
of  France  to  join  forces  with  him  soon  afterward,  and 
that  war  was  only  avoided  by  the  payment  to  France 
by  Rufus  of  an  enormous  sum  of  money. 

All  this  time  William  Rufus  was  doing  some  good 
things  for  his  kingdom  and  a  great  many  more  bad 
ones  that  there  is  not  time  to  describe.  After  Lan- 
franc's  death  the  king  grew  worse  and  worse  ;  he 
was  apparently  without  any  religious  principle,  and 
there  was  always  a  quarrel  between  him  and  the 
priests  about  the  church  money,  which  both  of  them 
wanted.  When  bishops  and  abbots  died  the  king 
would  not  appoint  their  successors,  and  took  all  the 
tithes  for  himself.  His  chief  favorite  was  a  low-born, 
crafty,  wicked  man  named  Ralph  Flambard,  and  the 
two  were  well  matched.  William  Rufus  had  little  of 
the  gift  for  business  that  made  his  father  such  a 
practical  statesman  and  organizer,  and,  in  fact,  his 
boisterous,  lawless,  indecent  manner  of  living  shocked 
even  the  less  orderly  of  his  subjects.  He  had  the 
lower  and  less  respectable  of  the  Norman  qualities, 
and  something  of  the  rudeness  of  the  worst  of  his 
more  remote  ancestry  crops  out  in  his  conduct. 
Once  when  he  was  very  ill  and  was  afraid  that  he 
was  going  to  die  with  all  his  sins  on  his  head,  he  sent 
for  Anselm,  the  holy  prior,  his  father's  friend  and 
counsellor,  and  appointed  him  to  the  archbishopric 
of  Canterbury,  which  had  been  vacant  ever  since 
Lanfranc's  death  four  years  before.  Rufus'  guilty 
conscience  was  quieted,  and  the  people  of  England 
were  deeply  thankful  for  such  a  prelate,  but  before 
long  the  king  and  Anselm  naturally  did  not   find 


35©  THE   STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

each  other  harmonious,  and  after  a  brave  fight  for 
what  he  beHeved  to  be  the  right,  Anselm  appealed  to 
Rome  and  left  England  with  orders  never  to  return. 
Robert  was  the  same  careless  man  that  he  had 
been  in  his  youth  ;  through  war  and  peace,  danger 
and  security,  he  lived  as  if  there  were  no  to-morrow 
to  provide  for  and  no  future  to  be  dreaded.  I  have 
sketched  the  course  of  affairs  as  briefly  as  possible  in 
both  England  and  Normandy,  as  if  the  only  men 
within  their  borders  were  these  two  incompetent 
brothers  who  so  ill  became  the  Conqueror's  "  kingly 
helm,"  as  Master  Wace  loves  to  call  the  crown.  But 
the  church  builders  were  still  at  work  like  ants  busy 
with  their  grains  of  sand,  towers  were  rising,  knights 
were  fighting  and  parading,  ladies  were  ordering  their 
households,  the  country  men  and  women  were  tilling 
the  green  fields  of  both  countries  and  gathering  in 
their  harvests  year  by  year.  There  had  been  trouble 
now  and  then,  as  we  have  just  seen,  between  the 
kingdom  and  the  duchy,  between  both  of  them  and 
their  border  foes,  but  almost  ten  years  went  by,  and 
the  children  who  had  played  with  their  toys  and 
sighed  over  their  horn  books  the  summer  that  Wil- 
liam the  Conqueror  died  were  now  men  and  women 
grown.  It  would  not  seem  like  the  old  Normandy 
if  the  news  of  some  new  great  enterprise  did  not  run 
like  wildfire  through  the  towns  and  country  lanes. 
The  blood  of  the  Northmen  was  kindled  with  the 
blood  of  all  Christendom  at  the  story  of  the  Turks' 
capture  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  and  the  blessed  city 
of  Jerusalem.  The  knights  of  Sicily  were  already  on 
their  journey  by  sea  and  shore ;  the  mother  church 


KINGDOM  AND  DUKEDOM.  35  I 

at  Rome  called  to  her  children  in  every  land  to 
defend  her  holiest  shrines  against  the  insolence  of 
the  heathen. 

Duke  Robert  was  most  zealous.  To  go  on  pil- 
grimage had  been  many  a  knight's  ambition,  but  this 
was  the  greatest  pilgrimage  of  all.  Robert,  as  usual, 
had  no  money,  but  to  his  joy  he  succeeded  in  making 
a  bargain  with  his  more  thrifty  English  brother,  and 
pledged  Normandy  to  William  Rufus  for  five  years 
for  the  sum  of  something  less  than  seven  thousand 
pounds.  Away  he  went  with  his  lords  and  gentle- 
men ;  they  wore  white  crosses  on  their  right  should- 
ers, and  sang  hymns  as  they  marched  along.  Not 
only  lords  and  gentlemen  made  up  this  huge  proces- 
sion of  thousands  and  thousands,  but  men  of  every 
station — from  the  poor  cottages  and  stately  halls 
alike.  If  any  better  persuasion  had  been  needed 
than  the  simple  announcement  that  the  Turks  had 
taken  Jerusalem,  it  had  come  by  way  of  Peter  the 
Hermit's  preaching.  This  had  created  a  religious 
frenzy  that  the  world  had  never  known  ;  from  town 
to  town  the  great  preacher  had  gone  with  an  inex- 
haustible living  stream  of  persuasive  eloquence  al- 
ways at  his  lips.  Women  wept  and  prayed  and  gave 
their  jewels  and  rich  garments,  and  men  set  their 
teeth  and  clenched  their  hands,  armed  themselves 
and  followed  him. 

England  did  not  listen  at  first,  and  William  Rufus 
chuckled  over  his  good  bargain,  and  taxed  his  un- 
willing subjects  more  heavily  than  ever  to  get  the 
money  to  pay  his  crusader  brother.  England  would 
listen  b\-  and  by,  but  in  this  first  crusade  she  took 


352  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

little  part,  while  the  Normans  and  Frenchmen  and 
all  their  neighbors  spent  three  years  of  fearful  suffer- 
ing and  hardship  in  the  strange  countries  of  the 
East  ;  at  last  they  won  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  The 
Turks  were  still  fighting  to  win  it  back  again  ;  they 
were  dangerous  enemies,  and  the  Christian  host  was 
dwindling  fast.  The  cry  was  sent  again  through 
Europe  for  more  soldiers  of  the  Holy  Cross. 

Here  we  come  face  to  face  again  with  the  old  vi- 
king spirit :  under  all  the  fast-increasing  luxury  that 
threatened  to  sap  and  dull  the  life  of  Normandy,  the 
love  of  adventure  and  fierce  energy  of  character  wers 
only  sleeping.  The  most  sentimental  and  pleasure 
loving  of  Robert's  knights  could  lightly  throw  ofT 
his  ribbons  and  gay  trappings,  and  buckle  on  his 
armor  when  the  summons  came.  Quickly  they 
marched  and  fiercely  they  fought  in  the  holy  wars, 
and  so  it  came  about  that  the  Norman  banners  were 
planted  at  the  gates  of  Jerusalem  and  Antioch,  and 
new  kingdoms  were  planted  in  the  East.  This  is  not 
/  the  place  to  follow  the  Crusaders'  fortunes,  or  the 
/  part  that  the  Norman  Sicilians  played  in  the  great 
enterprise  of  the  Middle  Ages.  At  least  it  must 
make  but  an  incident  in  my  scheme  of  the  Story  of 
the  Normans. 

There  is  a  familiar  modern  sound  in  thebewailings 
of  our  old  chroniclers  over  their  taxes.  Resentment 
and  pathos  were  blended  then  as  they  are  now  in 
such  complaints,  but  though  William  Rufus  was  not 
the  least  of  such  extortionate  offenders,  he  gave 
much    of    the    money    back   in    fine    buildings ;    the 


KINGDOM  AND  DUKEDOM.  353 

famous  Great  Hall  of  Westminster  was  built  in  his 
day,  and  the  stout  wall  that  surrounded  his  father's 
Tower  of  London,  besides  a  noble  bridge  across  the 
Thames. 

When  people  expected  unfailing  generosity  and  gold 
thrown  to  the  crowd  oftener  than  in  these  days,  it  is 
difficult  to  see  how  the  king  could  satisfy  popular 
expectation  without  preliminary  taxation.  Yet  the 
wails  of  the  chroniclers  go  up  like  the  chirp  of  the 
grasshopper.  There  was  one  mistaken  scheme  of 
benevolence  in  the  endowment  of  charities,  which 
have  borne  bitter  fruit  of  pauperism  ever  since,  for 
which  taxation  might  well  have  been  spared. 

William  Rufus  died  in  the  year  i  ioo.Jn_the  New 
Forest.  The  peasants  believed  that  it  was  enchanted 
and  accursed,  and  that  evil  spirits  flew  about  among 
the  trees  on  dark  and  stormy  nights.  There  was  a 
superstition  that  it  was  a  fated  place  to  those  who 
belonged  to  the  Conqueror's  line.  Another  prince 
had  been  killed  there,  named  Richard,  too — the  son 
of  Duke  Robert  of  Normandy. 

The  last  year  of  the  Red  King's  reign  had  been 
peaceful.  The  Witan  gathered  to  meet  him  at  West- 
minster and  Winchester  and  Gloucester,  and  he 
reigned  unchallenged  from  Scotland  to  Maine,  and 
there  was  truce  with  the  French  king  at  Paris.  One 
August  morning  he  went  out  to  the  chase  after  a  jolly 
night  at  one  of  the  royal  hunting-lodges.  The  party 
scattered  in  different  directions,  and  the  king  and  Sir 
Walter  Tyrrel,  a  famous  sportsman,  were  seen  riding 
away  together,  and  their  dogs  after  them.  That 
night    a   poor    forester,    a    lime-burner,    was    going 


354  ^^^^'    STOJiV  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

through  the  forest  with  his  clumsy  cart,  and  stum- 
bled over  the  king's  body,  which  lay  among 
the  ferns  with  an  arrow  deep  in  the  breast.  He 
lifted  it  into  the  cart  and  carried  it  to  Winchester, 
where  it  was  buried  next  day  with  little  sorrow. 
There  were  few  bells  tolled  and  few  prayers  said,  for 
the  priests  owed  little  to  any  friendliness  of  William 
Rufus. 

There  were  many  stories  told  about  his  death. 
Tyrrel  said  that  the  arrow  was  shot  by  an  unknown 
hand,  and  that  he  had  run  away  for  fear  that  people 
should  accuse  him  of  the  murder,  which  they  cer- 
tainly did  !  Others  said  that  Tyrrel  shot  at  a  stag 
and  the  arrow  glanced  aside  from  an  oak,  but  nobody 
knows  now,  and  in  those  days  too  many  people  were 
glad  that  the  king  was  dead,  to  ask  many  questions 
or  to  try  to  punish  any  one. 

Robert  might  have  claimed  the  kingdom  now 
because  of  the  old  agreement,  but  he  was  still  in  the 
East  fighting  for  Jerusalem.  Henry  Beauclerc  had 
been  one  of  the  huntsmen  that  fatal  morning,  so  he 
hurried  to  Winchester  and  claimed  the  crown.  He 
made  more  good  promises  than  any  of  his  predeces- 
sors, and  the  people  liked  him  because  he  was 
English-born,  and  so  they  made  another  Norman 
king.  Henry  Beauclerc  reigned  over  England  thirty- 
five  years,  and  won  himself  another  name  of  the 
Lion  of  Justice.  He  did  not  treat  his  brother 
Robert  justly,  however  he  may  have  deserved  his 
title  in  other  ways ;  but  he  had  a  zoological  garde-n 
and  brought  wild  beasts  from  different  quarters  of 
the  earth,  and  he  fostered  a  famous  love  of  learning,"^ 


KINGDOM  AND  DUKEDOM.  355 

and  put  Ralph  Flambard  in  the  Tower  as  soon  as  he 
possibly  could,  and  more  than  all,  chose  an  excellent 
woman  for  his  wife,  Maud,  the  good  daughter  of  the 
Scottish  King  Malcolm.  He  was  an  untruthful  man, 
but  a  great  man  for  all  that,  and  made  a  better  king 
than  some  that  England  had  already  endured.  In 
many  ways  his  reign  was  a  gain  to  England.  There 
was  a  distinct  advance  in  national  life,  and  while  the 
English  groaned  under  his  tyranny  they  could  not 
help  seeing  that  he  sought  for  quietness  and  order 
and  was  their  best  champion  against  the  worse 
tyranny  of  the  nobles.  Mr.  Freeman  believes  that 
the  Saxon  element  was  the  permanent  one  in  Eng- 
lish history,  and  that  the.  Norman  conquest  simply 
modified  it  somewhat  and  was  a  temporary  influence 
brought  to  bear  for  its  improvement.  It  is  useless 
to  argue  the  question  with  such  odds  of  learning  and 
thought  as  his  against  one,  but  the  second  invasion 
of  Northmen  by  the  roundabout  way  of  Normandy, 
seems  as  marked  a  change  as  the  succession  of  the 
Celts  to  the  Britons,  or  the  Saxons  to  the  Danes. 
The  Normans  had  so  distinctly  made  a  great  gain  in 
ideas  and  civilization,  that  they  were  as  much  foreign- 
ers as  any  Europeans  could  have  been  to  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  of  that  eleventh  century,  and  their  coming 
had  a  permanent  effect,  besides  a  most  compelling 
power.  It  seems  to  me  that  England  would  have 
cjisintegrated  without  them,  not  solidified,  and  a 
warring  handful  of  petty  states  have  been  the  result. 
Yet  undoubtedly  through  many  centuries  of  his- 
tory writing  the  English  of  the  Conqueror's  day  have 
been  made  to  take  too  low  a  place  in  the  scale  of 


356  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

civilization.  As  a  nation,  they  surely  responded 
readily  to  the  Norman  stimulus,  but  the  Normans 
had  never  found  so  good  a  chance  to  work  out  their 
own  ideas  of  life  and  achievement  as  on  English  soil 
in  the  first  hundred  years  after  the  Conquest.  In 
many  respects  the  Saxon  race  possesses  greater  and 
more  reliable  qualities  than  any  other  race  ;  stability, 
perseverance,  self-government,  industry  are  all  theirs. 
Yet  the  Normans  excelled  them  in  their  genius  for 
great  enterprises  and  their  love  of  fitness  and  ele- 
gance in  social  life  and  in  the  arts.  Indeed  we  can- 
not do  better  than  to  repeat  here  what  has  been, 
quoted  once  already.  "  Without  them  England 
would  have  been  mechanical,  not  artistic  ;  brave,  not 
chivalrous  ;  the  home  of  learning,  not  of  thought." 

It  has  also  been  the  fashion  to  ignore  the  influence 
of  five  hundred  years'  contact  between  Roman  civil- 
ization and  the  Saxon  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain. 
Surely  great  influences  have  been  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  That  the  making  of 
England  was  more  significant  to  the  world  and  more 
valuable  than  any  manifestation  of  Norman  ability, 
is  in  one  way  true,  but  let  us  never  forget  that 
much  that  has  been  best  in  English  national  life  has 
come  from  the  Norman  elements  of  it  rather  than 
the  Saxon.  England  the  colonizer,  England  the 
country  of  intellectual  and  social  progress,  Eng- 
land the  fosterer  of  ideas  and  chivalrous  humanity, 
is  Norman  England,  and  the  Saxon  influence  has 
oftener  held  her  back  in  dogged  satisfaction  and 
stubbornness  than  urged  her  forward  to  higher 
levels.      The  power  of  holding  back  is  necessary  to 


KINGDOM  AND  DUKEDOM.  357 

the  stability  of  a  kingdom,  but  not  so  necessary  as 
the 

"  Glory  of  going  on  and  still  to  be " 

The  conjunction  of  Norman  and  Saxon  elements  has 
made  England  the  great  nation  that  she  is. 

It  is  too  easy  as  we  draw  near  the  end  of  this 
story  of  the  Normans  to  wander  into  talk  about  the 
lessons  of  Norman  history  and  to  fall  into  endless 
generalizations.  Let  us  look  a  little  longer  at  Henry 
Beauclerc's  time  while  Robert,  under  the  shadow  of 
his  name  of  duke,  spends  enough  dreary  blinded 
years  in  prison  to  give  him  space  to  remember  again 
and  again  the  misspent  years  of  his  youth  and  his 
freedom  ;  while  Henry  plots  and  plans  carefully  for 
the  continuance  of  his  family  upon  the  throne  of 
England  and  Normandy,  only  to  be  disappointed  at 
every  turn.  His  son  is  coming  from  France  with 
a  gay  company  and  is  lost  in  the  White  Ship  with 
all  his  lords  and  ladies,  and  the  people  who  hear  the 
news  do  not  dare  to  tell  the  king,  and  at  last  send  a 
weeping  little  lad  into  the  royal  presence  to  falter' 
out  the  story  of  the  shipwreck.  What  a  touch  of  hu- 
manity is  there  !  The  king  never  smiled  afterward, 
but  he  plotted  on  and  went  his  kingly  ways,  "  the  last 
of  those  great  Norman  kings  who,  with  all  their 
vices,  their  cruelty,  and  their  lust,  displayed  great 
talents  of  organization  and  adaptation,  guided  Eng- 
land with  a  wise,  if  a  strong,  hand  through  the  days 
of  her  youth,  and  by  their  instinctive,  though  selfish, 
love  of  order  paved  the  way  for  the  ultimate  rise  of 
a  more  stable,  yet  a  freer  government." 

The  last  Norman    Duke  of  Normandy  was  really 


358  THE    STORY  OF  THE   NORMANS. 

that  young  Prince  William,  who  was  drowned  in  the 
White  Ship  off  the  port  of  Barfleur,  whom  Henry 
had  invested  with  the  duchy  and  to  whom  the 
nobihty  had  just  done  homage.  After  his  death,  the 
son  of  Robert  made  claim  to  the  succession,  and  the 
greater  proportion  of  the  Normans  upheld  his  claim, 
and  the  king  of  France  openly  favored  him,  but 
he  died  of  a  wound  received  in  battle,  and  again 
Henry,  rid  of  this  competitor,  built  an  elaborate 
scheme  upon  the  succession  of  his  daughter  Matilda, 
whom  he  married  to  Geoffrey.  Plaatagen#t,  son  of 
the  Count  of  Anjou.  But  for  all  this,  after  the  king'? 
death,  the  law  of  succession  was  too  unsettled  tc 
give  his  daughter  an  unquestioned  claim.  Heredi 
tary  title  was  not  independent  yet  of  election  b}'the 
nobles,  and  Matilda's  claims  were  by  man\-  people 
set  aside.  There  were  wars  and  disorders  too  intri- 
cate and  dreary  to  repeat.  Stephen,  Count  of  Bou- 
logne, son  of  that  Count  Stephen  of  Blois  who 
married  the  Conqueror's  daughter  Adela,  usurped 
the  throne  of  England,  and  there  was  a  mis- 
erable time  of  anarchy  in  both  England  and  Nor- 
mandy. And  as  the  government  passed  away  in 
this  apparently  profitless  interregnum  to  the  houses 
of  Blois  and  of  Anjou,  so  Normandy  seems  like 
Normandy  no  longer.  Her  vitality  is  turned  into 
different  channels,  and  it  is  in  the  history  of  England 
and  of  France  and  of  the  Low  Countries  that  we 
must  trace  the  further  effect  of  Norman  influence. 


XVIII. 


CONCLUSION. 


"I  looked  :  aside  the  dust-cloud  rolled, — 
The  Waster  seemed  the  Builder  too  ; 
Upspringing  from  the  ruined  Old 
I  saw  the  New." 

— Whittier. 

It  will  be  clearly  seen  that  there  is  great  apparent 
disproportion  between  certain  parts  of  this  sketch  of 
the  rise  and  growth  of  the  Norman  people.  I  have 
not  set  aside  the  truth  that  Normandy  was  not  re- 
united to  France  until  1204,  and  I  do  not  forget  that 
many  years  lie  between  that  date  and  the  time  when 
I  close  my  account  of  the  famous  duchy.  But  the 
story  of  the  growth  of  the  Normans  gives  one  the 
key  to  any  later  part  of  their  history,  and  I  have 
contented  myself  with  describing  the  characters  of 
the  first  seven  dukes  and  Eadward  the  Confessor,  who 
were  men  typical  of  their  time  and  representative  of 
the  various  types  of  national  character.  Of  the 
complex  questions  in  civic  and  legal  history  I  am 
not  competent  to  speak,  nor  does  it  seem  to  me 
that  they  properly  enter  into  such  a  book  as  this. 
With  Mr.  Freeman's  learned  and  exhaustive  work  at 
hand  as  a  book  of  reference,  the  readers  of  this  story 
of  Normandy  will  find  all  their  puzzles  solved. 

359 


360  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

But  I  hope  that  I  have  made  others  see  the  Nor- 
mans as  I  have  seen  them,  and  grow  as  interested  in 
their  fortunes  as  I  have  been.  They  were  the  fore- 
most people  of  their  time,  being  most  thoroughly 
alive  and  quickest  to  see  where  advances  might  be 
made  in  government,  in  architecture,  in  social  life. 
They  were  gifted  with  sentiment  and  with  good 
taste,  together  with  fine  physical  strength  and  in- 
tellectual cleverness.  In  the  first  hundred  years  of 
the  duchy  they  made  perhaps  as  rapid  progress  in 
every  way,  and  had  as  signal  influence  among  their 
contemporaries,  as  any  people  of  any  age, — unless 
it  is  ourselves,  the  people  of  the  young  republic 
of  the  United  States,  who  might  be  called  the 
Normans  of  modern  times.  For  with  many  of  the 
gifts  and  many  of  the  weaknesses  (and  dangers,  too) 
of  our  viking  ancestry,  we  have  repeated  the  rapid 
increase  of  power  which  was  a  characteristic  of  our 
Norman  kindred ;  we  have  conquered  in  many  fights 
with  the  natural  forces  of  the  universe  where  they 
fought,  humanity  against  humanity.  Much  of  what 
marked  the  Northman  and  the  Norman  marks  us 
still. 

The  secret  of  Normandy's  success  was  energetic- 
self-development  and  apprehension  of  truth  ;  the 
secret  of  Normandy's  failures  was  the  secret  of  all 
failures — blindness  to  the  inevitable  effects  of  certain 
causes,  and  unwillingness  to  listen  to  her  best  and 
most  far-seeing  teachers.  Carlyle  said  once  to  a 
friend  :  "  There  has  never  been  a  nation  yet  that  did 
any  thing  great  that  was  not  deeply  religious."  The 
things  that  are  easy  and  near  are  chosen,  instead   of 


CONCLUSION.  361 

the  things  that  make  for  righteousness.  When 
iuxury  becomes  not  the  means,  but  the  end  of  Hfe, 
humanity's  best  weapons  grow  rusty,  and  humanity's 
best  intelUgei.ce  is  dulled  and  threatens  to  disappear. 
The  church  forgets  her  purpose  and  invites  wor- 
shippers of  the  church  instead  of  worshippers  of  God. 
The  state  is  no  longer  an  impersonated  administrator 
of  justice  and  order,  but  a  reservoir  from  which  to 
plunder  and  by  which  to  serve  private  ends. 

I  am  not  able  to  speak  of  the  influence  of  the 
Normans  upon  the  later  kingdom  of  France,  the 
France  of  our  day,  as  I  confess  the  writer  of  such  a 
book  as  this  should  have  been,  but  there  is  one 
point  which  has  been  of  great  interest  as  the  south- 
waid  course  of  the  Northmen  has  been  eagerly 
followed. 

It  has  been  the  common  impression  that  there  v/as 
a  marked  growth  of  refinement  and  courtliness,  of 
dignified  bearing  and  imaginative  literature  con- 
nected with  the  development  of  the  French  men 
and  women  of  early  times,  to  the  gradual  widening 
of  which  the  modern  world  had  been  indebted  for 
much  of  its  best  social  attainment. 

I  think  that  a  single  glance  at  the  France  of  the 
ninth  and  tenth  centuries  will  do  away  with  any  be- 
lief in  its  having  been  the  sole  inspirer  or  benefactor. 
The  Franks  were  products  of  German  development, 
and  were  not  at  that  time  pre-eminent  for  social 
culture.  They  were  a  ruder  people  by  far  than  the 
Italians  or  even  the  people  of  Spain,  less  developed 
spiritually,  and  wanting  in  the  finer  attributes  of 
human  instinct  or  perception.     Great  as  they  already 


362  THE   STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 

were,  no  one  can  claim  that  quickness  of  tact  or 
special  intolerance  of  ill-breeding  came  from  their 
direction.  Dante  speaks,  a  little  later  than  this,  of 
the  "guzzling  Germans,"  and  though  we  must  make 
allowance  for  considerable  race  prejudice,  there  was 
truth,  too,  in  his  phrase.  Not  from  the  Franks, 
therefore,  but  from  among  the  very  rocks  and 
chasms  of  the  viking  nature,  sprang  a  growth  of 
delicate  refinement  that  made  the  yellow-haired 
jarls  and  the  "  sea-kings'  daughters  "  bring  a  true, 
poetical,  and  lovely  spirit  to  Normandy,  where 
they  gave  a  soul  to  the  body  of  art  and  letters 
that  awaited  them.  Each  nation  had  something  to 
give  to  the  other,  it  is  true,  but  it  was  the  Northern 
spirit  that  made  the  gifts  of  both  available  and  fruit- 
ful to  humanity. 

It  may  rightly  be  suggested  that  the  standard  of 
behavior  was  low  everywhere  in  the  tenth  century, 
according  to  our  present  standards,  but  it  is  true  that 
there  was  a  re-kindling  of  light  in  the  North,  which 
may  be  traced  in  its  continued  reflections  through 
Norway  to  Normandy,  and  thence  to  France  and 
England  and  the  world.  We  have  only  to  remind 
ourselves  of  the  development  of  literature  in  Iceland 
and  the  building  of  governmental  and  social  strength 
and  dignified  individuality,  to  see  that  the  Northmen 
by  no  means  owed  every  thing  to  the  influence  of 
French  superiority  and  precedence.  We  have  only 
to  compare  the  tenth  century  with  the  eleventh,  to 
see  what  an  impulse  had  been  given.  The  saga- 
lovers  and  the  clear-eyed  people  of  the  North  were 
gifted  with  a  spark  of  grace  peculiarly  their  own. 


CONCLUSION.  363 

There  is  a  pretty  story  told  by  an  English  traveller 
in  Norway,  who  met  a  young  woman  leading  an  old 
blind  beggar  through  the  street  of  a  poor,  plain 
village.  She  was  descended  from  one  of  the  noble 
families  of  ancient  times;  it  was  her  pleasure  and 
duty  to  serve  the  friendless  old  man.  But  the  trav- 
eller insists  that  never,  among  the  best  people  he 
has  met,  has  he  found  such  dignity  and  grace  as  this 
provincial  woman  wore,  who  knew  nothing  of  courts 
or  the  world's  elegance.  There  was  a  natural  nobility 
in  her  speech  and  manner  which  the  courtliest  might 
envy,  and  which  might  adorn  the  noblest  palace  and 
be  its  most  charming  decoration.  It  is  easy  to  write 
these  words  with  sympathy,  and  perhaps  the  travel- 
ler's half-forgotten  story  has  been  embellished  uncon- 
sciously with  the  memory  in  my  mind  of  kindred 
experiences  in  that  country  of  the  North.  Plainness 
and  poverty  make  gentle  blood  seem  more  gracious 
still,  and  tbe  green  mountain-sides  and  fresh  air  of 
old  Norway  have  not  yet  ceased  to  inspire  simple, 
unperverted  souls,  from  whose  life  a  better  and 
higher  generation  seems  more  than  possible. 

The  impulses  that  make  toward  social  develop- 
ment are  intermittent.  There  is  the  succession  of 
growing  time  and  brooding  time,  of  summer  and 
winter,  in  the  great  ages  of  the  world.  If  we  look 
at  the  Normans  as  creatures  of  a  famous  spring 
where  Europe  made  a  bold  and  profitable  advance 
in  every  way,  I  think  that  we  shall  not  be  far  from 
right. 

In  telling  their  story  in  this  imperfect  way  I  have 
not  been  unmindful  of  the  dark  side  of  their  charac- 


364  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

ter,  but  what  they  were  is  permanent,  while  what 
they  were  not  was  temporary.  The  gaps  they  left 
were  to  be  filled  up  by  other  means — by  the  slow 
processes  by  which  God  in  nature  and  humanity 
evolves  the  best  that  is  possible  for  the  present  with 
something  that  forestalls  the  future.  The  stones 
that  make  part  of  a  cathedral  wall  are  shaped  also 
with  relation  to  the  very  dome. 

Here,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Norman  absorption 
into  England,  I  shall  end  my  story  of  the  founding 
and  growth  of  the  Norman  people.  The  mingling 
of  their  brighter,  fiercer,  more  enthusiastic,  and 
visionary  nature  with  the  stolid,  dogged,  prudent, 
and  resolute  Anglo-Saxons  belongs  more  properly 
to  the  history  of  England.  Indeed,  the  difficulty 
would  lie  in  not  knowing  where  to  stop,  for  one  may 
tell  the  two  races  apart  even  now,  after  centuries  of 
association  and  affiliation.  There  are  Saxon  land- 
holders, and  farmers,  and  statesmen  in  England  yet 
— unconquered,  unpersuaded,  and  un-Normanized. 
But  the  effect  on  civilization  of  the  welding  of  the 
two  great  natures  cannot  be  told  fairly  in  this  or  any 
other  book — we  are  too  close  to  it  and  we  ourselves 
make  too  intimate  a  part  of  it  to  judge  impartially. 
If  we  are  of  English  descent  we  are  pretty  sure  to 
be  members  of  one  party  or  the  other.  Saxon  yet 
or  Norman  yet,  and  even  the  confusion  of  the  two 
forces  renders  us  not  more  able  to  judge  of  either, 
but  less  so.  We  must  sometimes  look  at  England  as 
a  later  Normandy ;  and  yet,  none  the  less,  as  the  great 
leader  and  personified  power  that  she  is  and  has  been 
these    many   hundred    years,  drawing    her    strength 


CONCLUSION.  365 

from  the  best  of  the  Northern  races,  and  presenting 
the  world  with  great  men  and  women  as  typical  of 
these  races  and  as  grandly  endowed  to  stand  for  the 
representatives  of  their  time  in  days  to  come,  as  the 
men  and  women  of  Greece  were  typical,  and  live  yet 
in  our  literature  and  song.  In  the  courts  and  stately 
halls  of  England,  in  the  market-places,  and  among 
followers  of  the  sea  or  of  the  drum,  we  have  seen  the 
best  triumphs  and  glories  of  modern  humanity,  no 
less  than  the  degradations,  the  treacheries,  and  the 
mistakes.  In  the  great  pageant  of  history  we  can 
see  a  nation  rise,  and  greaten,  and  dwindle,  and  dis- 
appear like  the  varying  lifetime  of  a  single  man,  but 
the  force  of  our  mother  England  is  not  yet  spent, 
though  great  changes  threaten  her,  and  the  process 
of  growth  needs  winter  as  well  as  summer.  Her  life 
is  not  the  life  of  a  harborless  country,  her  fortunes 
are  the  fortunes  of  her  generosity.  But  whether  the 
Norman  spirit  leads  her  to  be  self-confident  or  head- 
strong and  wilful,  or  the  Saxon  spirit  holds  her  back 
into  slowness  and  dulness,  and  lack  of  proper 
perception  in  emergencies  or  epochs  of  necessary 
change,  still  she  follows  the  right  direction  _  and 
leads  the  way.  It  is  the  Norman  graft  upon  the 
sturdy  old  Saxon  tree  that  has  borne  best  fruit  among 
the  nations — that  has  made  the  England  of  history, 
the  England  of  great  scholars  and  soldiers  and 
sailors,  the  England  of  great  men  and  women,  of 
books  and  ships  and  gardens  and  pictures  and 
songs !  There  is  many  a  gray  old  English  house 
standing  among  its  trees  and  fields,  that  has  shel- 
tered and  nurtured  many  a  generation  of  loyal  and 


366  THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 

tender  and  brave  and  gentle  souls.  We  shall  find 
there  men  and  women  who,  in  their  cleverness  and 
courtliness,  their  grace  and  true  pride  and  beauty, 
make  us  understand  the  old  Norman  beauty  and 
grace,  and  seem  to  make  the  days  of  chivalry  alive 
again. 

But  we  may  go  back  farther  still,  and  discover 
in  the  lonely  mountain  valleys  and  fiord-sides  of 
Norway  even  a  simpler,  courtlier,  and  nobler  dignity. 
In  the  country  of  the  sagamen  and  the  rough  sea- 
kings,  beside  the  steep-shored  harbors  of  the  viking 
dragon-ships,  linger  the  constantly  repeated  types  of 
an  earlier  ancestry,  and  the  flower  of  the  sagas 
blooms  as  fair  as  ever.  Among  the  red  roofs  and 
gray  walls  of  the  Norman  towns,  or  the  faint,  bright 
colors  of  its  country  landscapes,  among  the  green 
hedgerows  and  golden  wheat-fields  of  England,  the 
same  flowers  grow  in  more  luxuriant  fashion,  but 
old  Norway  and  Denmark  sent  out  the  seed  that  has 
flourished  in  richer  soil.  To-day  the  Northman,  the 
Norman,  and  the  Englishman,  and  a  young  nation 
on  this  western  shore  of  the  Atlantic  are  all  kindred 
who,  possessing  a  rich  inheritance,  should  own  the 
closest  of  kindred  ties. 


'-^^^^^W^^^^^^ 


INDEX. 


Adela,  112 

yElfred,  the  Confessor's  brother, 
184,  188 

/Elf  red  the  Great,  103,  171  ; 
fines,  173 

/Elfgifu,  see  Emma  of  Nor- 
mandy 

/Ethelred  the  Unready,  102, 
171  ;  English  contempt  for, 
175  ;    flees  to  Normandy,  177 

Alan  of  Brittany,  70,  126,  137  ; 
death  of,  151 

Alen^on,  siege  of,  213  ;  Lord  of, 
see  William  de  Talvas 

Ambrieres,  250 

Anglo-Saxons,  106,  365 

Anjou,  358 

Anselm,  238,  338,  349 

Apulia,  131,  139  ;  allegiance  to 
Rome,  140 

Architecture,  239,  240 

Argentan,  97 

Arlette,  122 

Arnulf  of  Flanders,  63,  71,  87 

Arrows,  252,  307 

Ascelin,  340 

Aumale,  248 

Auxerre,  108 

Aversa,  133,  139 

Avranches,  248 

B 

Baldwin  of  Flanders,  121 
Battle,  304 
Baudri,  340 


Bayeux,  Northmen  in,  40,  59  ; 
Richard  the  Fearless  educated 
in,  62  ;  description  of,  323 

Bayeux  tapestry,  238,  299,  323 

Beaumont,  house  of,  152,  198, 
282 

Bee,  abbey  of,  219 

Benedictines,  222 

Berengarius,  230 

Berenger,  Count  of  Bayeux,  40 

Bergen,  14,  291 

Bernard  the  Dane,  60,  6r,  75 

Bernard  Harcourt,  63 

Bernard  de  Senlis,  59,  61  ;  plot 
of,  76 

Bertha,  wife  of  Robert  of 
France,    100 

Bessin,  247 

Blaatand  Harold.  81 

Borbillon,   210 

Botho  the  Dane,  47,  60,  75 

Breteuil,  castle  of,  250 

Brionne,  224 

Brittany,  58  ;  Danish  settle- 
ments in,  61  ;  enmity  between 
Normandy  and,  76  ;  tributary 
to  Normandy,  246  ;  William's 
expedition  against,  265  ;  aids 
William,  285 

Bruce,  Robert,  233 

Burgundy,  54,  246  ;  king  of,  86  ; 
Henry  of,  106 

Burneville,  224 

C 

Caen,  113  ;  William  builds 
Church  of  St.  Stephen  '«^, 
237  .  29S,  321,  322,  340 


367 


368 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   iXGBMANS. 


Canterbury,    archbishop   of,    176 

Carloman,  85 

Carlyle,  360 

Cathedrals,  219 

Celts,  172 

Chalons,  Hugh,  Count  of,  loS, 
no 

Charlemagne,  11,  19  ;  empire 
of,  34,  52,  88 

Charles  the  Fat,  54,  56 

Charles  the  Simple,  34  ;  resists 
Rolf's  invasion,  37  ;  captivity 
of,  56 

Chartres,  Count  of,  38  ;  siege 
of,  41,  109 

Chivalry,  Norman,  93,  116 

Civitella,  battle  of,  1^0,  141 

Cloister  life,  215 

Cnut  the  Dane,  106,  119  ;  ban- 
ishment of  English  nobles, 
120 ;  chosen  king,  177  ;  his 
improvement  and  England's, 
178  ;  pilgrimage  to  Rome, 
182  ;  letter  of,  182  ;  death,  183 

Cotentin,  103,  113  ;  castles  of, 
116  ;  over-population  of,  116  ; 
home  of  the  Hautevilles,  134  ; 
rebellions,  152,  202  ;  designs 
of  Henry  of  France  toward, 
247  ;  men  at  Hastings,  306  ; 
sold  by  Robert  of  Normandy, 
348 

Coutances,  bishop  of,  304 

Crusades,   143,  351 

Curfew  bell,  251 


D 


Danegelt,  the,  173 

Danes  in  Bayeux,  74  ;  in  Eng- 
land, L03  ;  inheritance  from, 
in  Northern  England,  187  ; 
schemes  for  regaining  Eng- 
land, 258 

Dante,  362 

Dickens'  "  Child's  History  of 
England,"  328 

Dinan,  266 

Dive,  river,  297 

D61,  no,  266 


Domesday  Book,  32S 

Douglas,  Scottish  family  of,  233 

Drayton,   28 

Dreux,  county  of,  109 

Dunstan,  172 

Durham,  339 


Eadgyth  (or  Edith),  the  Con- 
fessor's wife,  188,  270 

Eadgyth  the  Swan-throated,  310 

Eadmund  Ironside,  104,  177  ; 
poisoned,  178 

Eadward  the  Confessor,  184  ; 
pious  character  of,  186  ;  weak- 
ness of,  1S8,  240;  likeness  to 
^thelred,  189  ;  preference  for 
Normans,  igi  ;  promises  the 
crown  to  William,  242  ;  also  to 
Harold,  257;  illness  and  death, 
269  ;   love  of  hunting.  329 

Eadward  the  Outlaw,  257 

Eadwine,  Earl  of  Mercia,  320 

Eadwy,  iSo 

Emma  of  Normandy  (or  ^Elf- 
gifu),  102  ;  marriage  to  ^th- 
elred,  105  ;  flight  to  Normandy 
of,  106  ;  sons  of,  118  ;  marries 
Cnut  of  England,  180 

England,  Danes  in,  103  ;  low 
condition  of,  106  ;  under  mis- 
rule of  yEthelred,  173  ;  elec- 
tion of  kings  in,  179  ;  same 
king  as  Denmark  and  Scandi- 
navia, i8r  ;  under  Cnut,  181  ; 
behind  Norman  civilization, 
185  ;  division  into  earldoms, 
1S7  ;  building  of  castles  in, 
193  ;  conquest  of,  planned  in 
Normandy,  240  ;  Harold  made 
king,  272  ;  conquest  of,  by 
William,  30S  ;  English  char- 
acter,  365 

Epte,  St.  Claire  on,  44 

Eremburga,  145 

Ericson,  Eeif,  18 

Ermenoldus,  113 

Espriota,  66  ;  second  marriage, 
80,  96,  152 


INDEX. 


369 


Estrith,  121,  123 

Eu,  236 

Eustace  of  Boulogne,  285 

Evreux,  40 

Exeter,  siege  of,  325 

Exmes,  97,  m,  113 


Falaise,  92  ;  industries  of,  97  ; 
Robert  in,  121;  the  Conqueror 
in,  197 

Fecamp,  89,  ill,  303 

Feudal  system,  54,  154  ;  in  Eng- 
land, 316 

Fitz-Osbern  ;  see  William  Fitz- 
Osbern. 

Flails  used  as  weapons,  76 

Flanders,  Bafdwan  of,  121 

Flanders,  civilization  of,  232  ; 
aids  William,  285 

Fleming,  Scottish  families  of,  233 

Forests,  Norman,  95  ;  English, 
330 

France,  54,  361 

Franks,  55,  361 

Freeman's  (E.  A.)  History  of  the 
Norman  Conquest,  190,  205, 
224,  225,  2S0,  286,  355,  359 

Froissart,  323 

Fulbert  the  Tanner,  122 

G 

Gaul,  20 

Geirrid  the  Norsewoman,  7 

Geoffrey  Martel,   250  ;  dies,  252 

Geoffrey  Plantagenet,  358 

Gerberga,  72  ;  courage  of,  82-S5 

Gerberoi,  334,  337 

Germany,  54  ;  sympathy  for 
Louis  Outremer,  83,  361 

Gisla,  43 

Godfrey  of  Brittany,  lOi 

Godiva,  Lady,  18S 

Godwine,  Earl  of  Wessex,  184  ; 
character  and  gifts,  188  ;  a 
king-maker,  18S  ;  influence  in 
England  and  banishment,  192; 
returns,  244  ;  remembrance  of, 
in  England,  315. 

Golet  the  Fool,  199 


Germ  of  Denmark,  30,  81 

Gottfried,  19 

Grantmesnil,  ig8 

Greece,  typical  characters  of,  365 

Greenland,  16,  iS 

Gregory  VII.,  (or  Hildebrand), 
279,  285,  298 

Grimbald  of  Plessis,  202  ;  im- 
prisonment of,  212 

Guizot's  history  of  France,  159 

Guy  of  Burgundy,  199  ;  pretends 
to  the  ducal  crown,  200 ; 
beaten  at  Val-es-dunes,  210 

Gyda,  30 

Gytha,  Godwine's  wife,  192 

Gyrth,  son  of  Godwine,  303 

H 

Haarfager,    Harold,    15  ;    king- 
dom and  marriage,  30  ;  tyran- 
nies of,  32 
Haman  of  Thorigny,  202 
Harold  Blaatand,  81,  82 
Harold  Hardrada,  288,  290,  294 
Harold,    son   of    Godwine,  192 ; 
in  Ireland,  242  ;  in  Normandy, 
253  ;  desires   to  succeed  Ead- 
ward,    256  ;     shipwrecked    in 
Ponthieu,    260 ;     received   by 
William    of    Normandy,    and 
visits   him,  264 ;    at    Mt.    St. 
Michel,      265  ;     promises     to 
marry  one  of  William's  daugh. 
ters,   267  ;  oath  on  the  relics, 
267  ;  again  in  Normandy,  267  •, 
made  king  of   England,  272  ; 
battle  of  Hastings,  300 
Ha  Roil,  49 
Harthacnut,  170  ;  becomes  king, 

183  ;  dies,  184 
Hasting  the  pirate,  38  ;    Italian 

robberies,  130-144 
Hastings,  battle  of,  299 
Hauteville,  Drogo  of,  138 
Hauteville,  Humbert  of,  141 
Hauteville,  Humphrey  of,  13S 
Hauteville,  Roger  of,  143 
Hauteville,  Serlon  of,  136  ;  bra- 
very of,  138,  T41 


370 


THE   STORY  OF  THE  NORMANS. 


Hauteville,  Tancredof,  132,  135, 

141 

Hauteville,  William  of,  presi- 
dent of  Apulia,  139 

Hautevilles,    Family  of  the,  236 

Hebrides,  2,  29,  50 

Henry  Beauclerc,  327  ;  his 
father's  legacy,  339,  348;  seizes 
the  English  crown,  354  ;  death 

"  of  his  son,  357 

Henry  of  Burgundy,  137 

Henry  of  France,  197,  199  ; 
William's  enemy,  202  ;  God- 
wine's  partisan,  244 

Herleva  (or  Arlette),  122 

Herluin  of  Bee,  223  ;  becomes 
prior,  224 

Herluin  of  Montreuil,  81 

Hildebrand,  archdeacon,  see 
Gregory  VII. 

Hugh  Capet,  63,  88,  98 

Hugh  the  Great,  Count  of  Paris, 
56,  63,  153 

I 

Iceland,  colonization  of,  16,  32  ; 
expedition  to  England  from, 
291  ;  literature,  32,  92,  362 

Italy,  54 

J 
Jersey,  island  of,  93 
Jerusalem,    Robert's   pilgrimage 

to,  126 
Jumieges,  35 

K 
Kent,  2S8,  290 
Knighthood,  156  ;  oaths  of,    161 

L 
Land-holding,    Norman    system 

of;   46 

Lanfranc,  219,  226  ;    met  by  pil- 
grims,    231  ;       brings     about 
William's  marriage,  237  ;  Wil- 
liam's  ally,    279 ;     Bishop    of 
Canterbury,  320 
Laon,  castle  of,  72 
Leo,  Pope  of  Rome,  235,  236 
Leofric,  1S8  ;   grandsons  of,  258 
Leslies,  Scottish  family  of,  233 
Lillebonne,  282 


Lisieux,  247,  252 

Lisle,  Baldwin  de,  233 

London,  177,  192,  302 

Long  Serpent,  12 

Longsword,  see  William  Long- 
sword 

Lorraine,  54 

Lothair,  86 

Ivouis  Outremer,  71  ;  in  Rouen, 
77  ;  loses  the  battle  with 
Normandy,  82  ;  death  of,   86 

M 

Maine,  Count  of,  280 

Malcolm,  288 

Mantes,  377 

Matilda  of  Flanders,  233  ;  mar- 
ries   William    of    Normandy, 
237  ;    builds    Church    of    the 
Holy   Trinity  in    Caen,    238 
influence  in  Normandy,  245 
gives    William    a    ship,    298 
rules    Normandy    in    his    ab- 
sence,   325  ;    favors    her    son 
Robert,  334  ;  dies,  335 

M auger,  90  ;  Archbishop  of 
Rouen,  112,  124;  opposition 
to  William  and  Matilda!s  mar- 
riage, 236 ;  dismissal  of,  by 
William,  251 

Mauritius,  238 

Mercia,  187 

Michael,  Emperor  of  Constanti- 
nople, 128 

Mirmande,  11 1 

Monasticism,  215  ;  value  of,  to 
Normandy,    230 

Montgomery,  house  of,  152 

Morkere,  28S,  320 

Mortain,  Count  of,  282 

Mortemer,  battle  of,  248 

Mount  St.  Michel,  265 

N 
Navarre,    54 

Neal    of  St.    Saviour,   201  ;     at 
•     Val-es-dunes,     208  ;    goes    to 

Brittany,    202  ;    at    Hastings, 

306 


INDEX. 


371 


Neustria,  35,  79 

Normandy,  Rolf's  voyage  to,  29, 

34  ;  formerly  called  Neustria, 

35  ;  independence  of,  44  ; 
division  of,  46  ;  improvement 
of,  47  ;  loyalty  to  France,  57  ; 
relations  with  France,  60 ; 
holds  its  own  against  Louis 
Outremer,  82  ;  first  money 
coined  in,  84  ;  the  Norman 
character,  gi  ;  manufactures 
of,  92  ;  chivalry  in,  93  ;  at- 
tacked by  /Ethelred,  103  ; 
changes  in,  115  ;  Christianity 
in,  118  ;  social  progress  of, 
132  ;  colonies  in  Southern 
Italy,  133  ;  feudalism  in,  153  ; 
knighthood  of,  156  ;  churches 
of,  168  ;  plague  in,  169  ; 
Ethelred  escapes  to,  177  ; 
state  of  religion  in,  217  ;  archi- 
tecture, 239,  240  ;  enmity  be- 
tween Flanders  and,  245  ; 
victory  at  Mortemer,  248  ; 
craftiness  of,  250  ;  victory 
ta  Varaville,  252  ;  Harold  in, 
268  ;  governed  by  William  and 
Lanfranc,  279  ;  preparation  for 
war  in,  295  ;  wins  the  battle 
of  Hastings,  300  ;  influence  of 
Norman  character,  356-360 

Norman  women,  323,  326 
Northmen,  voyages  of,  4  ;  litera- 
ture  of,    9  ;    arts   of  the,    11  ; 
ship-building  of,  i2;inBayeux, 

59 
Norway,  coast  of,  i  ;  metals  in, 
4  ;  home-life  in,  6  ;  reputation 
of,  9  ;  ships  of,  12-14  >  colo- 
nies of,  19  ;  women  in,  23  ; 
pirates,  26  ;  Haarfager's  gov- 
ernment of,  30 


O 


Odo  of  Bayeux,  282,  304,  323  ; 
made  Earl  of  Kent,  324  ; 
Italian  plot,  336  ;  release  from 
prison,  339  ;  plots  of,  347 

Odo  of  France,  247 


Olaf  of  Norway,  109,  175 
Ordericus   Vitalis,    chronicle   of, 

334,  337 
Orkneys,  i,  30,  293 
Oslac,  60 

Osmond  de  Centeville,  72 
Otho  William,   107 
Otto  of  Germany,  86 


Palermo,  146  v 

Palgrave,  Sir  Francis,  89,  gi 

Paris,  plundering  of,  19,  40 ; 
borders  of  Normandy  near, 
125 

Pavia,  Lanfranc  born  in,  226 

Peasantry,  Norman,  93  ;  com- 
plaint of,  95  ;  parliament  of 
and  commune,  96  ;  in  Eng- 
land, 330 

Peter  the  Hermit,  351 

Pevensey,  299 

Philip,  King  of  France,  337 

Poictiers,  246 

Ponthieu,  246  ;  Harold  ship- 
wrecked in,  260  ;  WilUam's 
ships  sail  for,  297 

Popa,  43,  45,  60 

Pyrenees,  246 

Q 


Quevilly,  275 


R 


Ragnar  Lodbrok,  25 

Rainulf  of  Ferrieres,  68 

Ralph  Flambard,  349 

Ralph  of  Tesson,  206 

Ralph  of  Toesny,  249 

Randolph  of  Bayeux,  202 

Raoul  of  Ivry,  96  ;  against  the 
peasants,  97,  98 

Ravens,  black,  15 

Renaud,  no 

Richard  of  Evreux,  282 

Richard  the  Fearless,  62  ;  boy- 
hood of,  66 ;  made  duke,  68  ; 
sent  to  Laon,  71  ;  charters  of, 
84  ;  death  of,  89 


17^ 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   NORMANS. 


Richard  the  Good,  go  ;  cliaracter 
of,  92  ;  unruly  subjects  of,  96  ; 
first  peer  of  France,  99  ;  mar- 
riage of,  10 1  ;  war  with  Bur- 
gundy, 106,  with  Dreux,  108  ; 
death  at  Fecamp,  11  r 

Richard  the  Third  Duke,  no; 
becomes  duke,  112;  is  poi- 
soned, 113 

Robert  Curt-hose,  333  ;  inherits 
Normandy,  330,  345  ;  his 
character,  350  ;  goes  on  pil- 
grimage,   351  ;  imprisonment, 

357 
Robert  of  Eu,  2S2 
Robert    of    France,    98  ;  wit  of, 

99 

Robert  Guiscard,  I ",4  ;  reaches 
Amalfi,  141  ;  becomes  duke, 
142 

Robert  of  Jumieges,  193 

Robert  the  Magnificent,  112  ; 
bad  name  of,  114;  enemy  of 
England,  118  ;  marries  the 
tanner's  daughter,  122  ;  goes 
on  pilgrimage,  125  ;  dies,  129 

Robert  the  Staller,  273,  300 

Roger  of  Beaumont,  282,  322 

Roger  of  Toesny,  195  ;  colony 
in  Spain,  196 

Rognwald,  Jarl,  of  More,  31,  44 

Rolf  Ganger,  ships,  29  ;  profes- 
sion, 32  ;  siege  of  Rouen,  35  ; 
good  government,  41  ;  made 
duke,  42  ;  christened,  45  ; 
married  Gisla,  45  ;  death,  50  ; 
tomb  at  Rouen,  typical  char- 
.  acter,  53  ;  tower  in  Rouen, 
78  ;  hall  in  Rouen,  121  ; 
Cnut's  likeness  to',  157  ;  278. 
282,  306 

Romance  language,  55 

Romandc Rou,  94,  112,  204,  209, 
267,  340 

Roman  roads,  92 

Rome,  Church  of,  118 

Rouen,  20  ;  siege  of,  35  ;  Rolf's 
wedding  in,  45  ;  Rolf's  palace 
in,  50  ;  Richard  the  ^'earless' 
coronation    in,    69  ;   ruins    in. 


86  ;   reception  of  William   and 

Matilda  in,  236 
Rudolph  of  Burgundy,  57 
Rye,  castle  of,  200 


Sagamen,  8 

Sandwich,  288 

Salle,  212 

Sanglac,  battle  of,  104 

Saxons,  287 

Scandinavian  peninsula,  1-3 

Sea-kings,  9 

Senlac,  304,  309 

Shakespeare,  91 

Sicily,  131,  139  ;   Norman  ruins, 

in,    145  ;    aids    William,   285  ; 

crusades  of,  350 
Siward  of  Northumberland,  258 
Slavery,    William's    suppression 

of,  332 
Spain,  20,  25,  306 
Sperling,  80,  152 
Stamford  Bridge,  battle  of,  293, 

298,  305 
Stephen  of  Blois,  358 
Stephen  of  Boulogne,  358 
Stigand,  273 
St.  Michel's  Mount,  loi 
Sturlesson,  .Snorro,  28 
St.  Valery,  297 
Sussex,  288,  290,  299 
Swegen,  King  of  Denmark,  175 


Taillefer  the  minstrel,  306 
TaxeSj  352 
Tennyson,  Lord,  28 
Terra  Regis,  318 
Thurkill  the  sacristan,  303 
Tillieres,     109;     siege    of,     136 

castle  of,  250 
Tostig,  287,  292 
Truce  of  God,  165 
Turf-Einar,  32 

V 

\'al-es-dunes,     battle     of,     205 
changes  since,  247 


INDEX. 


373 


Valmeray,  205 

V'alognes,  William's  escape  from, 

199 
Varaville,  battle  of,  251 
Vaudreuil,  152 
Venerable  Bede,  the,  218 
V'enosa    (tomb    of    the    Haute- 

villes),  146 
Vermandois,  Count  of,  56;  death 

of,  63 
Vexin,  district  of  the,  125,  337, 

34S 
Vigr,  island  of,  29 
V'ikings,  9,  366 
Vinland,  18 

W 

Wace,   Master,    112,  see  Roman 

de  Roil. 
Walter  Giffard,  282 
Walter  Tyrrel,  353 
Waltham,  abbey  of,  254,  303 
Waltheof,  320 
Westminster,  191,  269,  302,  311, 

314,  353 

Wight,  isle  of,  288  ;  Odo's  ren- 
dezvous in,  336 

William  the  Conqueror,  104, 
114  ;  father  of,  n6  ;  mother 
of,  122  ;  homage  of  barons  to, 
126  ;  typical  character  of, 
149 ;  purity  of  life,  167  ; 
Roger  of  Toesny  an  enemy 
to,  196  ;  Guy  of  Burgundy's 
rebellion,  199  ;  not  a  man  of 
blood  in  a  certain  sense,  211  ; 
mastery  in  Normandy,  213  ; 
revenge  upon  Alenjon,  214  ; 
meets  Lanfranc,  229  ;  marries 
Matilda,  237  ;  goes  to  Eng- 
land, 242  ;  receives  news  of 
Harold's  shipwreck,  260  ;  at 
Chateau  d'Eu,  264  ;  hears  of 
Harold's  coronation,  275  ;  em- 


bassy to    Harold,   280  ;  coun- 
cil   at    Lillebonne,    282  ;    at 
Hastings,  299  ;  march  to  Lon- 
don, 313  ;  coronation  at  West- 
minster,  314  ;    government  of 
England,      316  ;      returns     to 
Normandy    in    triumph,    321 ; 
at  Mantes,    337  ;    last  illness 
and  death,  337 
William     Fitz-Osbern,    250 ;    at 
Rouen    jialace,    262  ;    at  Que- 
villy,  277,  282  ;  at  Lillebonne, 
284  ;    made    Count   of    Here- 
ford, 324 
W^illiam  of  Jumieges,  I12 
William   Longsword,  his  youth, 
43  ;    education    of,     56 ;     his 
wife,    56  ;   lands    in    Brittany, 
58  ;    politics   of,    60  ;    govern- 
ment of,  62  ;  death,  63  ;  char- 
acter, of,  64  ;  lingering  enmity 
toward    Flanders    caused    by 
his  murder,  245 
William  Malet,  310 
William  of  Malmesbury,  331 
William     Rufus,     338  ;    inherits 
the  English  crown,  339  ;   goes 
to  England,  345  ;  is  murdered, 
353  ;  is  buried  at  Winchester, 

353 
William,    son     of    Richard     the 

Fearless,  97 
William    de    Talvas,    124 ;    the 

bastard's  enemy,    152  ;    rebels 

against  William,  213 
William  of  Warren,  282 
Witanagemot,     270,     275,     280, 

317.  353 
Women  of  Normandy,  loi,  323, 
326 

Y 

Yonge,  Miss  (Story  of  The  Littk 

Duke),  85 
York,  292 


TOXf  AUV 


UN' 


This 


LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  1.  due  on  the  J^s^^.J^^^.^-^arX: 
„  on  the  date  »  wluch  «     3405.  ^ 


26W:___;Se:&-tB-BEe:*r-^^'^''^'~'*^ 


LD  21-95m- 


LD2lA-40m-8,'72 
(Q11738l0)476-A-32 


Uni^«^  of  Calif °""* 
Berkeley 


U_  C    BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


KoV  USE  CDSE17^bDS 

LOAN  *'*V.,„siNG-nME 


General  [g^roia 
Univets^jjj.eleT 


i^p„e;-?ra^ 


,l.l,S,irt 


